THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 


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STORY   OF  THE   HILLS. 


A   BOOK    ABOUT    MOUNTAINS 
FOR  GENERAL   READERS. 


BY 


Rev.  H.  N.   HUTCHINSON,   B.A.,  F.G.S. 

AUTHOR  OF  "  THE  AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  THE  EARTH." 


OTtfj  Stitren  JFulispage  Eiustrattans. 


They  are  as  a  great  and  noble  architecture,  first  giving  shelter, 
comfort,  and  rest;  and  covered  also  with  mighty  sculpture  and  painted 
legend.  —  Ruskin. 


Neb)  gorfc 
THE  MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

LONDON:  MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Ltd, 
1906 


re.. 


Copyright,  1891, 
By  MACMILLAN  AND  CO. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped  1891.      Reprinted  April.  1895; 
January,  August,  1896. 

New  edition  September,  1906. 


Berwick  &  Smith,  Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A.. 


/9c6> 


TO 

All  who  love  Mountains  and  Hills 

Z\)i&  little  Book  is  Brtucatcto, 

IN  THE  HOPE  THAT  EVEN  A  SLIGHT  KNOWLEDGE  OF  THEIR  PLACE 
IN  NATURE,  AND  PREVIOUS  HISTORY,  MAY  ADD  TO  THE  WON- 
DER AND  DELIGHT  WITH  WHICH  WE  LOOK  UPON  THESE  NOBLE 
FEATURES   OF   THE    SURFACE    OF   THE    EARTH. 


187 


PREFACE. 


Now  that  travelling  is  no  longer  a  luxury  for 
the  rich,  and  thousands  of  people  go  every 
summer  to  spend  their  holidays  among  the 
mountains  of  Europe,  and  ladies  climb  Mont 
Blanc  or  ramble  among  the  Carpathians,  there 
must  be  many  who  would  like  to  know  some- 
thing of  the  secret  of  the  hills,  their  origin, 
their  architecture,  and  the  forces  that  made 
them  what  they  are. 

For  such  this  book  is  chiefly  written.  Those 
will  best  understand  it  who  take  it  with  them 
on  their  travels,  and  endeavour  by  its  use  to 
interpret  what  they  see  among  the  mountains ; 
and  they  will  find  that  a  little  observation  goes 
a  long  way  to  help  them  to  read  mountain 
history. 

It  is  hoped,  however,  that  all,  both  young  and 
old,  who   take   an   intelligent    interest  in   the 


viii  Preface. 

world  around,  though  they  may  never  have 
seen  a  mountain,  may  find  these  pages  worth 
reading. 

If  readers  do  not  find  here  answers  to  all 
their  questions,  they  may  be  reminded  that  it  is 
not  possible  within  the  present  limits  to  give 
more  than  a  brief  sketch  of  the  subject,  leaving 
the  gaps  to  be  filled  in  by  a  study  of  the  larger 
and  more  important  works  on  geology.  The 
author,  assuming  that  the  reader  knows  nothing 
of  this  fascinating  science,  has  endeavoured  to 
interpret  into  ordinary  language  the  story  of 
the  hills  as  it  is  written  in  the  rocks  of  which 
they  are  made. 

It  can  scarcely  be  denied  that  a  little  know- 
ledge of  natural  objects  greatly  adds  to  our 
appreciation  of  them,  besides  affording  a  deep 
source  of  pleasure,  in  revealing  the  harmony, 
law,  and  order  by  which  all  things  in  this  won- 
derful world  are  governed.  Mountains,  when 
once  we  begin  to  observe  them,  seem  to  be- 
come more  than  ever  our  companions,  —  to  take 
us  into  their  counsels,  and  to  teach  us  many  a 
lesson  about  the  great  part   they  play  in   the 


Preface,  ix 

order  of  things.  And  surely  our  admiration  of 
their  beauty  is  not  lessened,  but  rather  increased, 
when  we  learn  how  much  we  and  all  living 
things  owe  to  the  life-giving  streams  that  flow 
continually  from  them.  The  writer  has,  some- 
what reluctantly,  omitted  certain  parts  of  the 
subject  which,  though  very  interesting  to  the 
geologist,  can  hardly  be  made  attractive  to 
general  readers. 

Thus,  the  cause  of  earth  movements,  by  which 
mountains  are  pushed  up  far  above  the  plains 
that  lie  at  their  feet,  is  at  present  a  matter  of 
speculation ;  and  it  is  difficult  to  express  in 
ordinary  language  the  ideas  that  have  been  put 
forward  on  this  subject.  Again,  the  curious 
internal  changes,  which  we  find  to  have  taken 
place  in  the  rocks  of  which  mountains  are  com- 
posed, are  very  interesting  to  those  who  know 
something:  of  the  minerals  of  which  rocks  are 
made  up,  and  their  chemical  composition ;  but 
it  was  found  impossible  to  render  these  matters 
sufficiently  simple. 

So  again  with  regard  to  the  geological 
structure  of  mountain-chains.     This  had  to  be 


x  Preface. 

very  briefly  treated,  in  order  to  avoid  intro- 
ducing details  which  would  be  too  complicated 
for  a  book  of  this  kind. 

The  author  desires  to  acknowledge  his  obliga- 
tions to  the  writings  of  Sir  A.  Geikie ;  Professor 
Bonney,  Professor  Green,  and  Professor  Shaler, 
of  Harvard  University ;  the  volumes  of  the 
"Alpine  Journal ;"  "The  Earth,"  by  Reclus; 
the  u  Encyclopedia  Britannica."  Canon  Isaac 
Taylor's  "  Words  and  Places,"  have  also  been 
made  use  of ;  and  if  in  every  case  the  reference 
is  not  given,  the  writer  hopes  the  omission  will 
be  pardoned.  A  few  passages  from  Mr.  Ruskin's 
"Modern  Painters"  have  been  quoted,  in  the 
hope  that  others  may  be  led  to  read  that 
wonderful  book,  and  to  learn  more  about  moun- 
tains and  clouds,  and  many  other  things,  at  the 
feet  of  one  of  the  greatest  teachers  of  the 
century. 

Some  of  our  engravings  are  taken  from  the 
justly  celebrated  photographs  of  the  High  Alps,1 
by  the  late  Mr.  W.  Donkin,  whose  premature 
death     among    the    Caucasus    Mountains    was 

1  Published  by  Messrs.  Spooner,  of  the  Strand. 


Preface.  xi 

deeply  deplored  by  all.  Those  reproduced  were 
kindly  lent  by  his  brother,  Mr.  A.  E.  Donkin, 
of  Rugby.  To  Messrs.  Valentine  &  Son  of 
Dundee,  Mr.  Wilson  of  Aberdeen,  and  to 
Messrs.  Frith  we  are  indebted  for  permission 
to  reproduce  some  of  their  admirable  photo- 
graphs ;  also  to  Messrs.  James  How  &  Sons  of 
Farringdon  Street,  for  three  excellent  photo- 
graphs of  rock-sections  taken  with  the  micro- 
scope. 


CONTENTS. 


I^art  I. 

THE  MOUNTAINS   AS  THEY  ARE. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     Mountains  and  Men 3 

II.     The  Uses  of  Mountains 33 

III.  Sunshine  and  Storm  on  the  Mountains   .  70 

IV.  Mountain  Plants  and  Animals    ....  103 


fBat*  ii. 

HOW  THE   MOUNTAINS  WERE   MADE. 


PAGE 


CHAPTER 

V.     How  the   Materials  were    brought  to- 
gether       139 

VI.     How  the  Mountains  were  upheaved  .     .  174 

VII.     How  the  Mountains  were  carved  out     .  205 

VIII.     Volcanic  Mountains 242 

IX.     Mountain  Architecture 282 

X.     The  Ages  of  Mountains  and  Other  Ques- 
tions      318 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Norham  Castle.     After  Turner Frontispiece 

Ben  Lomond.     From  a  Photograph  by  J.  Valentine     ...  16 

Clouds  on  Bex  Nevis 38 

Snow    on    the     High    Alps.       Prom   a  Photograph    by 

Mr.  Donkin 64 

A  Storm:  on  the  Lake  of  Thun.     After  Turner      ...  86 

The  Matterhorn.     Prom  a  Photograph  by  Mr.  Donkin      .  98 

On  a  Glacier 116 

Bed  Deer.     After  Ansdell 133 

Chalk  Bocks,  Plamborough  Head.     Prom  a  Photograph 

by  G.  W.  Wilson 152 

MlCROFHOTOGRAPHS    ILLUSTRATING    BOCK    PoRMATION        .       .  172 

The  Skaeggedalsfors,  Norway.      Prom  a  Photograph  by 

J.  Valentine 192 

The  Mer  de  Glace  and  Mont  Buet.     Prom  a  Photograph 

by  Mr.  Donkin 229 

The  Eruption  of  Vesuvius  in  1872.  Prom  an  Instantane- 
ous Photograph 250 

Columnar  Basalt   at   Clamshell  Cave,  Staffa.      Prom 

a  Photograph  by  J.  Valentine 2S0 

Mont  Blanc,  Snowfields,  Glacters,  and  Streams     .     .  312 

Mountain  in  the  Yosemite  Valley 336 


I 


PART    I. 


THE  MOUNTAINS  AS  THEY  ARE. 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  HILLS. 


$art  I. 

THE  MOUNTAINS  AS  THEY  ARE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

MOUNTAINS   AND    MEN. 

11  Happy,  I  said,  whose  home  is  here ; 
Fair  fortunes  to  the  Mountaineer." 

In  old  times  people  looked  with  awe  upon 
the  mountains,  and  regarded  them  with  feel- 
ings akin  to  horror  or  dread.  A  very  slight 
acquaintance  with  the  classical  writers  of  an- 
tiquity will  suffice  to  convince  any  one  that 
Greeks  and  Romans  did  so  regard  them.  They 
were  not  so  familiar  with  mountains  as  we 
are ;  for  there  were  no  roads  through  them, 
as  now  through  the  Alps,  or  the  Highlands  of 
Scotland,  —  to  say  nothing  of  the  all-pervading 
railway.     It  would,  however,  be  a  great  mis- 


4  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

take  to  suppose  that  the  ancients  did  not  ob- 
serve and  enjoy  the  beauties  of  Nature.  The 
fair  and  fertile  plain,  the  vine-clad  slopes  of 
the  lower  hill-ranges,  and  the  "  many-twinkling 
smile  of  ocean"  were  seen  and  loved  by  all 
who  had  a  mind  to  appreciate  the  beautiful. 
The  poems  of  Homer  and  Virgil  would  alone 
be  sufficient  to  prove  this.  But  the  higher 
ranges,  untrodden  by  the  foot  of  man,  were 
gazed  at,  not  with  admiration,  but  with  reli- 
gious awe;  for  men  looked  upon  mountains 
as  the  abode  of  the  gods.  They  dwelt  in  the 
rich  plain,  which  they  cultivated,  and  beside 
the  sweet  waters  of  some  river;  for  food  and 
drink  are  the  first  necessities  of  life.  But  they 
left  the  high  hills  alone,  and  in  fancy  peopled 
them  with  the  "Immortals"  who  ruled  their 
destiny,  —  controlling  also  the  *  winds  and  the 
lightning,  the  rain  and  the  clouds,  which  seem 
to  have  their  home  among  the  mountains,  A 
childlike  fear  of  the  unknown,  coupled  with 
religious  awe,  made  them  avoid  the  lofty  and 
barren  hills,  from  which  little  was  to  be  got 
but  wild  honey  and  a  scanty  supply  of  game. 
There  were  also  dangers  to  be  encountered 
from  the  fury  of  the  storm  and  the  avalanche; 


Mountains  and  Men,  5 

but  the  safer  ground  of  the  plains  below  would 
reward  their  toil  with  an  ample  supply  of  corn 
and  other  necessaries  of  life. 

In  classical  times,  and  also  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  the  mountains,  as  well  as  glens  and 
rivers,  were  supposed  to  be  peopled  with  fairies, 
nymphs,  elves,  and  all  sorts  of  strange  beings ; 
and  even  now  travellers  among  the  mountains 
of  Switzerland,  Norway,  Wales,  or  Scotland 
find  that  it  is  not  long  since  the  simple  folk 
of  these  regions  believed  in  the  existence  of 
such  beings,  and  attributed  to  their  agency 
many  things  which  they  could  not  otherwise 
explain. 

Of  all  the  nations  of  antiquity  the  Jews  seem 
to  have  shown  the  greatest  appreciation  of  moun- 
tain scenery ;  and  in  no  ancient  writings  do 
we  find  so  many  or  so  eloquent  allusions  to 
the  hills  as  in  the  Old  Testament.  But  here 
again  one  cannot  fail  to  trace  the  same  feelings 
of  religious  awe.  The  Law  was  given  to  their 
forefathers  in  the  desert  amidst  the  thunders 
of  Sinai.  To  them  the  earth  was  literally 
Jehovah's  footstool,  and  the  clouds  were  His 
tabernacle.  "  If  He  do  but  touch  the  hills, 
they  shall  smoke." 


6  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

But  this  awe  was  not  unmixed  with  other 
and  more  comforting  thoughts.  They  felt  that 
those  cloud-capped  towers  were  symbols  of 
strength  and  the  abode  of  Him  who  would 
help  them  in  their  need.  For  so  we  find  the 
psalmists  regarding  them  ;  and  with  our  very 
different  conceptions  of  the  earth's  natural  fea- 
tures, we  can  but  dimly  perceive  and  realise  the 
full  force  and  meaning  of  the  words,  "  I  will  lift 
up  mine  eyes  unto  the  hills,  from  whence  cometh 
my  help." 

To  take  another  example  from  antiquity,  we 
find  that  the  Himalayas  and  the  source  of  the 
Ganges  have  from  very  early  times  been  con- 
sidered as  holy  by  the  people  of  India.  Thou- 
sands of  pilgrims  from  all  parts  of  that  vast 
country  still  continue  to  seek  salvation  in  the 
holy  waters  of  the  Ganges,  and  at  its  sacred 
sources  in  the  snowy  Himalayas.  And  to  those 
who  know  India  the  wondrous  snow-clad  peaks 
of  the  Himalayas  still  seem  to  be  surrounded 
with  somewhat  of  the  same  halo  of  glory  as 
of  old. 

Mountains  are  intimately  associated  with  the 
history  of  nations,  and  have  contributed  much 
to  the  moulding  of  the;  human  mind  and  the 


Mountains  a7id  Men,  7 

character  of  those  who  dwell  among  them  ; 
they  have  alike  inspired  the  mind  of  the  artist, 
the  poet,  the  reformer,  and  the  visionary  seek- 
ing repose  for  his  soul,  that,  dwelling  far  from 
the  strife  and  turmoil  of  the  world,  he  may 
contemplate  alone  the  glory  of  the  Eternal 
Being.  They  have  been  the  refuge  of  the 
afflicted  and  the  persecuted ;  they  have  braced 
the  minds  and  bodies  of  heroes  who  have  dwelt 
for  a  time  among  them  before  descending  once 
more  to  the  plain  that  they  might  play  some 
noble  part  in  the  progress  of  the  world. 

Moses,  while  leading  the  flock  of  his  father- 
in-law  to  the  back  of  the  wilderness,  came  to 
Mount  Horeb  and  received  the  divine  summons 
to  return  to  Egypt  and  lead  Israel  out  of  bon- 
dage. David,  with  his  six  hundred  followers, 
fleeing  from  the  face  of  Saul,  found  a  refuge 
in  the  hill  country  ;  and  the  life  of  peril  and 
adventure  which  he  led  during  these  years  of 
persecution  was  a  part  of  his  training  for  the 
great  future  task  of  ruling  Israel,  which  he 
performed  so  well.  Elijah  summoned  the  false 
prophets  of  Baal  and  Asherah  to  Mount  Carmel 
and  slew  them  at  the  brook  Kishon  ;  and  a 
little  later  we  find  him  at  Mount  Horeb  listen- 


8  The  Story  of  the  Hills, 

ing,  not  to  the  wind  or  to  the  earthquake  or  to 
the  fire,  but  to  the  "  still  small  voice '  telling 
him  to  return  and  anoint  Jehu  to  be  king. 

Or,  to  take  another  example  from  a  later 
age,  we  find  that  Mahomet's  favourite  resort 
was  a  cave  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Hira, 
north  of  Mecca ;  here  in  dark  and  wild  sur- 
roundings his  mind  was  wrought  up  to  rhap- 
sodic enthusiasm. 

And  many,  like  these  leaders  of  men,  have 
received  in  mountain  retreats  a  firmness  and 
tenacity  of  purpose  giving  them  the  right  to 
be  leaders,  and  the  power  to  redress  human 
wrongs  ;  or,  it  may  be,  a  temper  of  mind  and 
spirit  enabling  them  to  soar  into  regions  of 
thought  and  contemplation  untrodden  by  the 
careless  and  more  luxurious  multitudes  who 
dwell  on  the  plains  below.  Perhaps  Mr.  Lewis 
Morris  was  unconsciously  offering  his  testimony 
to  the  influence  of  mountains  when  he  wrote 
those  words  which  he  puts  into  the  mouth 
of  poor  Marsyas,  — 

"  More  it  is  than  ease, 
Palace  and  pomp,  honours  and  luxuries, 
To  have  seen  white  presences  upon  the  hills, 
To  have  heard  the  voices  of  the  eternal  gods." 1 

1  Epic  of  Hades. 


Mountains  and  Men,  9 

The  thunder  and  lightning,  storm  and  cloud, 
as  well  as  the  soft  beauty  of  colour,  and  the 
harmony  of  mountain  outline,  have  been  a 
part,  and  a  very  important  part,  of  their  train- 
ing. The  exhilarating  air,  the  struggle  with 
the  elements  in  their  fierceness,  the  rugged 
strength  of  granite,  seem  to  have  possessed 
the  very  souls  of  such  men,  and  made  them 
like  "the  strong  ones,"  —  the  immortal  beings 
to  whom  in  all  previous  ages  the  races  of  man- 
kind have  assigned  their  abode  in  the  hills, 
as  the  Greek  gods  were  supposed  to  dwell  on 
Mount  Olympus.  On  these  heights  such  men 
seem  to  have  gained  something  of  the  strength 
of  Him  who  dwells  in  the  heavens  far  above 
their  highest  peaks,  — "  the  strength  of  the 
hills,"  which,  as  the  Hebrew  poet  says,  "is 
His  also." 

We  have  spoken  of  the  attitude  of  the  human 
mind  towards  mountains  in  the  past ;  let  us 
now  consider  the  light  in  which  they  are  re- 
garded at  the  present  time  by  all  thoughtful 
and  cultivated  people.  And  it  does  not  require 
a  moment's  consideration  to  perceive  that  a 
very  great  change  has  taken  place.  Instead 
of  regarding  them  with  horror  or  aversion,  we 


10  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

look  upon  them  with  wonder  and  delight ;  we 
watch  them  hour  by  hour  whenever  for  a  brief 
season  of  holiday  we  take  up  our  abode  near 
or  among  them.  We  come  back  to  them  year 
by  year  to  breathe  once  more  the  pure  air  which 
so  frequently  restores  the  invalid  to  health  and 
brings  back  the  colour  to  faded  cheeks.  We 
love  to  watch  the  ever- varying  lights  and 
shades  upon  them,  as  the  day  goes  by.  But 
it  is  towards  evening  that  the  most  enchanting 
scenes  are  to  be  witnessed,  when  the  sinking 
sun  sheds  its  golden  rays  upon  their  slopes,  or 
tinges  their  summits  with  floods  of  crimson 
light ;  and  then  presently,  after  the  sun  has 
gone  down,  pale  mists  begin  to  rise,  and  the 
hills  seem  more  majestic  than  ever.  Later  on, 
as  the  full  moon  appears  from  behind  a  bank 
of  cloud,  those  wonderful  moonlight  effects  may 
be  seen  which  must  be  familiar  to  all  who  know 
the  mountains  as  they  are  in  summer  or  autumn, 
—  scenes  such  as  the  writer  has  frequently 
witnessed  in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  but 
which  only  the  poet  can  adequately  describe. 

There  are  few  sights  in  Nature  which  more 
powerfully  impress  the  mind  than  a  sunset 
among  the   mountains.      General   Sir   Richard 


Mountains  and  Men.  11 

Strachey     concludes     his     description     of     the 
Himalayas  with  the  following  striking  passage  : 

"  Here  may  the  eye,  as  it  sweeps  along  the  horizon, 
embrace  a  line  of  snowclad  mountains  such  as  exist 
in  no  other  part  of  the  world,  stretching  over  one 
third  of  the  entire  circle,  at  a  distance  of  forty  or 
fifty  miles,  their  peaks  towering  over  a  sea  of  inter- 
vening ranges  piled  one  behind  another,  whose  extent 
on  either  hand  is  lost  in  the  remote  distance,  and 
of  which  the  nearest  rises  from  a  gulf  far  down  be- 
neath the  spectator's  feet,  where  may  be  seen  the 
silver  line  that  marks  a  river's  course,  or  crimson 
fields  of  amaranth  and  the  dwellings  of  man.     Sole 
representative  of  animal  life,  some  great  eagle  floats 
high  overhead  in  the  pure  dark-blue  sky,  or,  unused 
to  man,  fearlessly  sweeps  down  within  a  few  yards 
to  gaze  at  the   stranger  who  intrudes  among  these 
solitudes  of  Nature.     As  the  sun  sinks,  the  cold  grey 
shadow  of  the   summit  where  we   stand   is   thrown 
forward,  slowly  stealing  over  the  distant  hills,  and 
veiling  their  glowing  purples  as  it  goes,  carries  the 
night  up  to  the  feet  of  the  great  snowy  peaks,  which 
still  rise   radiant  in  the   rosy  light  above   the   now 
darkening  world.     From  east  to  west  in  succession 
the  splendour  fades  away  from  one  point  after  another, 
and  the  vast  shadow  of  the  earth  is  rapidly  drawn 
across  the  whole  vault  of  heaven.       One  more  de- 
parting day  is  added  to  the  countless  series   which 


12  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

has  silently  witnessed  the  deathlike  change  that 
passes  over  the  eternal  snows,  as  they  are  left  raising 
their  cold  pale  fronts  against  the  now  leaden  sky ; 
till  slowly  with  the  deepening  night  the  world  of 
mountains  rises  again,  as  it  were,  to  a  new  life,  under 
the  changed  light  of  the  thousand  stars  which  stud 
the  firmament  and  shine  with  a  brilliancy  unknown 
except  in  the  clear  rarefied  air  of  these  sublime 
heights." 

Year  by  year  a  larger  number  of  busy 
workers  from  our  great  towns,  availing  them- 
selves of  the  increased  facilities  for  travel,  come 
to  the  mountains  to  spend  their  summer  holi- 
days, —  some  to  the  Swiss  Alps,  others  to  Wales, 
Cumberland,  Norway,  or  the  Highlands  of  Scot- 
land. There  are  few  untrodden  valleys  in 
these  regions,  few  of  the  more  important  moun- 
tains which  have  not  been  climbed. 

Our  knowledge  of  mountains,  thanks  to  the 
labours  of  a  zealous  army  of  workers,  is  now  con- 
siderable. The  professors  of  physical  science 
have  been  busy  making  important  observations 
on  the  condition  of  the  atmosphere  in  the  higher 
regions ;  geographers  have  noted  their  heights 
and  mapped  their  leading  contours.  Geologists 
have  done  a  vast  amount  of  work  in  ascertain- 


Mountains  and  Men.  13 

ing  the  composition  and  arrangement  of  the 
rocks  of  which  mountain  chains  are  composed, 
in  observing  their  peculiar  structures,  in  re- 
cording the  changes  which  are  continually 
effecting  their  waste  and  decay,  and  thus  in- 
terpreting the  story  of  the  hills  as  it  is  written 
in  the  very  rocks  of  which  they  are  built  up. 

Naturalists  have  collected  and  noted  the 
peculiar  plants  and  animals  which  have  their 
home  among  the  hills,  and  so  the  forms  of  life, 
both  animal  and  vegetable,  which  inhabit  the 
mountains  of  Europe,  and  some  other  countries, 
are  now  fairly  well   known. 

The  historian,  the  antiquary,  and  the  student 
of  languages  have  made  interesting  discoveries 
with  regard  to  the  mountain  races  of  mankind. 
And  only  to  mention  this  country,  such  writers 
as  Scott,  Wordsworth,  and  Ruskin  have  given 
us  in  verse  and  prose  descriptions  of  mountain 
scenery  which  will  take  a  permanent  place  in 
literature ;  while  Turner,  our  great  landscape- 
painter,  has  expressed  the  glories  of  mountain 
scenery  in  pictures  wmich  speak  more  eloquently 
than  many  words.  Thus  we  see  that  whatever 
line  of  inquiry  be  chosen,  our  subject  is  full 
of  varied  interest. 


14  The  Story  of  the  Hills, 

With  regard  to  the  characteristics  of  moun- 
tain races,  it  is  not  easy  to  say  to  what  extent 
people  in  different  parts  of  the  world  who  live 
among  mountains  share  the  same  virtues  or  the 
same  failings;  but  the  most  obvious  traits  in 
the  character  of  the  mountaineer  seem  to  be  the 
result  of  his  natural  surroundings.  Thus  we 
find  mountaineers  generally  endowed  with  har- 
dihood, strength,  and  bravery.  To  spend  one's 
days  on  the  hillsides  for  a  large  part  of  the 
year,  as  shepherds  and  others  do  in  Scotland  or 
Wales,  and  to  walk  some  miles  every  day  in 
pure  bracing  air,  must  be  healthy  and  tend  to 
develop  the  muscles  of  the  body ;  and  so  we  find 
the  highlanders  of  all  countries  are  usually  mus- 
cular, strong,  and  capable  of  endurance.  And 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  mountain  races 
are  kept  up  to  a  high  standard  of  strength  and 
endurance  by  a  rigorous  and  constant  weeding 
out  of  the  weakly  ones,  especially  among  chil- 
dren. And  if  only  the  stronger  live  to  grow  up 
and  become  parents,  the  chances  are  that  their 
children  will  be  strong  too.  Thus  Nature  exer- 
cises a  kind  of  "  selection ; '  and  we  have  conse- 
quently "  the  survival  of  the  fittest."  This 
"  selection,' '    together    with    the   healthy   lives 


Mountains  and  Men,  15 

they  lead,  is  probably  sufficient  to  account  for 
their  strength  and  hardiness. 

As  might  be  expected,  mountaineers  are  cele- 
brated for  their  fighting  qualities.  The  fierce 
Afghans  who  have  often  faced  a  British  army, 
and  sometimes  victoriously ;  the  brave  Swiss 
peasantry,  who  have  more  than  once  fought 
nobly  for  freedom ;  the  Highlanders,  who  have 
contributed  so  largely  to  the  success  of  British 
arms  in  nearly  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  whose 
forefathers  defied  even  the  all-conquering  Roman 
in  their  mountain  strongholds,  —  these  and  many 
others  all  show  the  same  valour  and  power  of 
endurance.  Etymologists,  whose  learned  re- 
searches into  the  meaning  of  words  have  thrown 
so  much  light  on  the  ages  before  history  was 
written,  tell  us  that  the  Picts  were  so  called 
from  their  fighting  qualities,  and  that  the  word 
"  Pict  "  is  derived  from  the  Gaelic  "  peicta,"  a 
fighting  man.  And  Julius  Caesar  says  the  chief 
god  of  the  Britons  was  the  god  of  war. 

In  some  countries  —  as,  for  instance,  Greece, 
Italy,  and  Spain  —  the  mountains  are  infested 
with  banditti  and  robbers,  who  often  become 
a  terror  to  the  neighbourhood.  In  more  peace- 
ful  and    orderly   countries,    however,    we    find 


16  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

among  mountaineers  many  noble  qualities,  — 
such  as  patience,  honesty,  simplicity  of  life, 
thrift,  a  dignified  self-reliance,  together  with 
true  courtesy  and  hospitality.  This  is  high 
praise ;  but  who  that  knows  mountain  peasants 
would  say  it  is  undeserved  ?  How  many  a  tired 
traveller  among  the  hills  of  Scotland  or  Wales 
has  had  reason  to  be  grateful  for  welcome,  food, 
and  rest  in  some  little  cottage  in  a  far-away 
glen  !  How  many  friendships  have  thus  been 
formed  !  How  many  a  pleasant  talk  has  be- 
guiled the  time  during  a  storm  or  shower!  The 
old  feuds  are  forgotten  now  that  the  Saxon 
stranger  and  invader  is  at  peace  with  the  Celtic 
people  whom  his  forefathers  drove  into  the  hills. 
The  castles,  once  centres  of  oppression  or  scenes 
of  violence,  lie  in  peaceful  and  picturesque  ruins, 
and  add  not  a  little  to  the  interest  of  one's 
travels  in  the  North.  What  true  courtesy  and 
consideration  one  meets  with  at  the  hands  of 
these  honest  folk,  among  whom  the  old  kindly 
usages  have  not  died  out !  Often  too  poor  to 
be  afflicted  with  the  greed  and  thirst  for  wealth, 
which  frequently  marks  the  man  of  the  plain 
as  compared  with  the  man  of  the  hills,  —  the 
Lowlander  as  compared  with  the  Highlander,  — 


K 
O 

o 

H 
O 

K 


o 


p 

O 

o 


Mountains  and  Men.  17 

they  exhibit  many  of  those  simple  virtues  which 
one  hardly  expects  to  meet  with  among  busy 
townspeople,  all  bent  on  making  money,  or  as 
the  phrase  is,  "  getting  on  in  life." 

"  The  mountain  cheer,  the  frosty  skies, 
Breed  purer  wits,  inventive  eyes ; 
And  then  the  moral  of  the  place 
Hints  summits  of  heroic  grace. 
Men  in  these  crags  a  fastness  find 
To  fight  corruption  of  the  mind ; 
The  insanity  of  towns  to  stem 
With  simpleness  for  stratagem." 

Mr.  Skene,  the  Scotch  historian,  records  a 
touching  case  of  the  devotion  of  Highlanders 
to  their  chief.     He  says,  — 

"  There  is  perhaps  no  instance  in  which  the  attach- 
ment of  the  clan  to  their  chief  was  so  strongly  mani- 
fested as  in  the  case  of  the  Macphersons  of  Cluny 
after  the  disaster  of  '  the  Forty-five.'  The  chief 
having  been  deeply  engaged  in  that  insurrection, 
his  life  became  of  course  forfeited  to  the  laws  ;  but 
neither  the  hope  of  reward  nor  the  fear  of  danger 
could  induce  any  one  of  his  people  to  betray  him.  For 
nine  years  he  lived  concealed  in  a  cave  a  short  dis- 
tance from  his  own  house  ;  it  was  situated  in  the  front 
of  a  woody  precipice  of  which  the  trees  and  shelving 
rocks  concealed  the  entrance.  The  cave  had  been 
dug  by  his   own  people,   who  worked  at  night    and 

2 


18  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

conveyed  the  stones  and  rubbish  into  a  neighbour- 
ing lake,  in  order  that  no  vestige  of  their  labour 
might  appear  and  lead  to  the  discovery  of  the  retreat. 
In  this  asylum  he  continued  to  live  secure,  receiving 
by  night  the  occasional  visits  of  his  friends,  and  some- 
times by  day,  when  the  soldiers  had  begun  to  slacken 
the  vigour  of  their  pursuit.  Upwards  of  one  thou- 
sand persons  were  privy  to  his  concealment,  and  a 
reward  of  .£1,000  was  offered  to  any  one  who  should 
give  information  against  him.  .  .  .  But  although  the 
soldiers  were  animated  by  the  hope  of  reward,  and 
their  officers  by  promise  of  promotion  for  the  appre- 
hension of  this  proscribed  individual,  yet  so  true 
were  his  people,  so  inflexibly  strict  in  their  promise 
of  secrecy,  and  so  dextrous  in  conveying  to  him  the 
necessaries  he  required  in  his  long  confinement,  not 
a  trace  of  him  could  be  discovered,  nor  an  individual 
base  enough  to  give  a  hint  to  his  detriment.', 

The  mountaineer  is  a  true  gentleman.  How- 
ever poor,  however  ignorant  *  or  superstitious, 
one  perceives  in  him  a  refinement  of  manner 
which  cannot  fail  to  command  admiration.  His 
readiness  to  share  his  best  with  the  stranger 
and  to  render  any  service  in  his  power  are 
pleasing  traits  in  his  character.  But  there  is 
one  sad  feature  about  mountaineers  of  the  pre- 
sent day  which  one  frequently  notices  in  dis- 


Mountains  and  Men,  19 

tricts  where  many  tourists  come,  —  especially 
English  or  American.  They  are,  we  regret 
to  say,  losing  their  independence,  their  simple, 
old-fashioned  ways,  and  becoming  servile  and 
greedy,  —  at  least  in  the  towns  and  villages. 
Such  changes  seem,  alas  !  inevitable  when  rich 
townspeople,  bent  on  pleasure  or  sport,  invade 
the  recesses  of  the  hills  where  poverty  usually 
reigns.  On  the  one  hand,  we  have  people, 
often  with  long  purses,  eager  for  enjoyment, 
waiting  to  be  fed,  housed,  or  otherwise  enter- 
tained ;  on  the  other  hand,  poor  people,  anxious 
to  "make  hay  while  the  sun  shines'  and  to 
extract  as  much  money  as  possible  from  "the 
visitors,"  who  often  allow  themselves  to  be 
unmercifully  fleeced.  Then  there  are  in  the 
Highlands  the  sportsmen,  who  require  a  large 
following  of  "  gillies '  to  attend  them  in  their 
wanderings,  pay  them  highly  for  their  services, 
and  dismiss  them  at  the  end  of  the  season ;  and 
so  the  men  are  in  many  cases  left  without  em- 
ployment all  the  winter  and  spring.  Is  it,  then, 
surprising  that  they  give  way  to  a  natural 
tendency  to  idleness,  and  fall  into  other  bad 
habits  ?  Any  visitor  who  spends  a  winter,  or 
part  of  one,  in  the  Highlands  will  be  better  able 


20  The  Story  of  the  Hills, 

to  realise  the  extent  of  this  evil,  which  is  by  no 
means  small ;  and  one  cannot  help  regretting 
that  the  sportsmen's  pleasure  and  the  tourist's 
holiday  should  involve  results  of  such  grave 
consequence.  We  are  inclined  to  think  that  in 
these  days  sport  is  overdone,  and  wish  it  could 
be  followed  without  taking  the  hillman  away 
from  the  work  he  would  otherwise  find,  and 
which  would  render  him  a  more  useful  mem- 
ber of  society.  With  the  agitation  going  on 
in  some  parts  against  deer-forests  we  do  not 
feel  much  sympathy,  because  they  are  based  on 
the  erroneous  idea  that  "  crofters  "  could  make 
a  living  out  of  the  land  thus  enclosed ;  whereas 
those  who  know  the  land  and  its  value  for  agri- 
cultural purposes  tell  us  that  with  the  exception 
of  a  few  small  patches  here  and  there,  hardly 
worth  mentioning,  it  could  not  possibly  be  made 
to  produce  enough  to  maintain  crofters  and  their 
families.  Nevertheless,  another  way  of  looking 
at  the  matter  is  this  :  that  the  man  who  merely 
ministers  to  the  pleasure  of  others  richer  than 
himself  loses  some  of  the  self-respect  and  inde- 
pendence which  he  would  acquire  by  working  in 
his  own  way  for  a  living. 

The  same  changes  for  the  worse  are  still  more 


Mountains  and  Men.  21 

manifest  in  Switzerland  ;  and  even  in  some  parts 
of  Norway  the  people  are  being  similarly  spoiled. 
Mr.  Ruskin,  speaking  of  the  former  country,  says: 

"  I  believe  that  every  franc  now  spent  by  travellers 
among  the  Alps  tends  more  or  less  to  the  undermin- 
ing of  whatever  special  greatness  there  is  in  the  Swiss 
character  ;  and  the  persons  I  met  in  Switzerland  whose 
position  and  modes  of  life  render  them  best  able  to 
give  me  true  information  respecting  the  present  state 
of  their  country,  among  many  causes  of  national  de- 
terioration, spoke  with  chief  fear  of  the  influx  of  Eng- 
lish wealth,  gradually  connecting  all  industry  with  the 
wants  of  strangers,  and  inviting  all  idleness  to  depend 
upon  their  casual  help,  thus  resolving  the  ancient  con- 
sistency and  pastoral  simplicity  of  the  mountain  life 
into  the  two  irregular  trades  of  the  innkeeper  and 
mendicant."  * 

Mountain  people  have  still  their  superstitions ; 
since  the  introduction  of  railways  many  of  the 
old  legends  and  popular  myths  have  died  out, 
but  even  what  is  left  is  interesting  to  the 
student  of  folk-lore,  —  indeed,  we  might  say, 
to  every  one. 

Sir  A.  Geikie,  speaking  of  Scotch  mountain 
scenery  says,  — 

1  Modern  Painters,  vol.  iv. 


22  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

"  To  the  influence  of  scenery  of  this  kind  on  the 
mind  of  a  people  at  once  observant  and  imaginative, 
such  legends  as  that  of  the  Titans  should  in  all  likeli- 
hood be  ascribed.  It  would  be  interesting  to  trace 
back  these  legends  to  their  cradle,  and  to  mark  how 
much  they  owe  to  the  character  of  the  scenery  amongst 
which  they  took  their  rise.  Perhaps  it  would  be  found 
that  the  rugged  outlines  of  the  Boeotian  hills  had  no 
small  share  in  the  framing  of  Hesiod's  graphic  story 
of  that  primeval  warfare  wherein  the  combatants 
fought  with  huge  rocks,  which,  darkening  the  air  as 
they  flew,  at  last  buried  the  discomfited  Titans  deep 
beneath  the  surface  of  the  land.  Nor  would  it  be  dif- 
ficult to  trace  a  close  connection  between  the  present 
scenery  of  our  own  country  and  some  of  the  time- 
honoured  traditionary  stories  of  giants  and  hero 
kings,  warlocks  and  witches,  or  between  the  doings 
of  the  Scandinavian  Hrimthursar,  or  Frost  Giants, 
and  the  more  characteristic  features  of  the  land- 
scapes and  climate  of  the  North." 1 

The  following  passage  from  Ruskin  brings 
out  more  strongly  the  effects  of  mountains  on 
men, — a  subject  to  which  he  has  given  much 
attention :  — 

"  We  shall  find,  on  the  one  hand,  the  mountains  of 
Greece  and  Italy,  forming  all  the  loveliest  dreams, 

1  Scenery  of  Scotland. 


Mountains  and  Men.  23 

first  of  Pagan,  then  of  Christian  mythology,  on  the 
other,  those  of  Scandinavia,  to  be  the  first  sources  of 
whatever  mental  (as  well .  as  military)  power  was 
brought  by  the  Normans  into  Southern  Europe. 
Normandy  itself  is,  to  all  intents  and  purposes, 
a  hill  country.  .  .  .  We  have  thus  one  branch  of 
the  Northern  religious  imagination  rising  among  the 
Scandinavian  fiords,  tempered  in  France  by  various 
encounters  with  elements  of  Arabian,  Italian,  Pro- 
vencal, or  other  Southern  poetry,  and  then  reacting 
upon  Southern  England ;  while  other  forms  of  the 
same  rude  religious  imagination,  resting  like  clouds 
upon  the  mountains  of  Scotland  and  Wales,  met  and 
mingled  with  the  Norman  Christianity,  retaining  even 
to  the  latest  times  some  dark  colour  of  superstition, 
but  giving  all  its  poetical  and  military  pathos  to  Scot- 
tish poetry,  and  a  peculiar  sternness  •  and  wildness 
of  tone  to  the  Reformed  faith,  in  its  manifestations 
among  the  Scottish  hills." 1 

The  Alps,  like  most  other  mountainous  coun- 
tries, have  their  fair  share  of  legends,  some  of 
which  are  very  grotesque.  We  have  selected 
the  following,  as  related  by  Professor  Bonney.2 

The  wild  huntsman's  yell   is   still   heard   in 

1  Modern  Painters,  vol.  iv. 

2  "  The  Alpine  Regions  of  Switzerland  "  (Deighton,  Bell,  & 
Co.),  a  most  interesting  book,  especially  for  travellers. 


24  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

many  places  by  the  shuddering  peasants  as 
his  phantom  train  sweeps  by  the  chalet. 
There  is  also  the  wild  goat-herd,  a  wicked  lad, 1 
who  crucified  an  old  he-goat  and  drove  his 
flock  to  worship  it ;  lightning  consumed  him ; 
and  now  he  wanders  forever  over  the  Alps, 
miserably  wailing. 

When  the  glacier  of  Getroz  burst,  the  Arch- 
fiend himself  was  seen  swimming  down  the 
Ehone,  with  a  drawn  sword  in  one  hand  and 
a  golden  ball  in  the  other;  when  opposite  to 
Martigny  he  halted,  and  at  his  bidding  the 
waters  rose  and  swept  away  part  of  the  town. 
A  vast  multitude  of  imps  was  seen  about  the 
same  time  on  a  mountain  in  the  Val  de  Bagnes 
by  two  mendicant  friars  from  Sion,  who,  hearing 
of  this  unlawful  assembly,  had  gone  out  as 
detectives  to  learn  what  mischief  was  hatching. 

Many  places  also  have  their  spectral  animals, 
the  Valois,  according  to  Tschudi,  being  the 
headquarters  of  these  legends.  There  are  also 
pygmies  to  be  seen  in  the  lonely  mountains,  like 
the  Norwegian  trolls,  and  brownies  who  make 
or  mar  the  house,  according  as  the  goodwife  is 
neat  or  a  slattern. 

Many  Alpine   stories   have  reference  to  the 


Mountains  and  Men.  25 

sudden  destruction  of  pastures  by  the  fall  of 
rocks  or  ice.  Here  is  one  from  the  Clariden 
Alps :  — 

Once  upon  a  time  these  were  fertile  pastures, 
on  which  dwelt  a  "  senn."  He  grew  rich,  so 
that  none  could  match  him  in  wealth ;  but  at 
the  same  time  he  grew  proud  and  haughty,  and 
spurned  both  the  laws  of  Nature  and  the  com- 
mandments of  God.  He  was  so  foolishly  fond 
of  his  mistress  that  he  paved  the  way  from  the 
chalet  to  the  byre  with  cheeses,  lest  she  should 
soil  her  feet,  and  cared  so  little  for  his  mother 
that  when  she  lay  at  his  door  fainting  with 
hunger,  he  offered  her  only  milk  to  drink  in 
which  he  had  thrown  the  foulest  refuse.  Right- 
eously indignant,  she  turned  away,  calling  upon 
Heaven  to  punish  such  an  insult.  Before  she 
reached  her  home,  the  rocks  and  ice  had  de- 
scended, crushing  beneath  them  her  wicked  son, 
his  mistress,  and  possessions. 

In  the  neighbourhood  of  Monte  Rosa  there  is 
a  tradition  that  a  valley  exists  in  the  heart  of 
that  mountain  the  entrance  to  which  has  been 
sealed  up  by  impassable  glaciers,  though  the 
floor  of  the  "  cirque '  within  is  still  a  rich  pas- 
turage.     In  a  certain  valley  they  point  out  a 


26  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

spring  which  bursts  from  the  ground,  as  the  out- 
let of  the  torrent  by  which  it  is  watered.  Once, 
said  they,  a  chasseur  found  the  bed  of  this 
stream  dry,  and  creeping  up  its  subterranean 
channel,  arrived  on  the  floor  of  the  valley.  It 
was  a  huntsman's  paradise  ;  chamois  were  there 
in  plenty,  bears  also,  and  even  bouquetins,  wan- 
dering over  the  richest  pastures.  He  retraced 
his  steps  to  announce  the  good  news;  but  when 
he  returned  again,  the  waters  had  resumed  their 
course,  and  the  place  has  ever  since  remained 
inaccessible. 

Mountains  play  a  very  important  part  in 
human  history.  In  the  first  place,  they  are 
natural  barriers  separating  the  nations  of  the 
world  from  one  another,  and  tending  to  keep 
them  confined  within  certain  definite  bounds ; 
we  say,  tending  to  keep  them  thus  confined,  be- 
cause, as  every  one  knows,  these  barriers  have 
again  and  again  been  surmounted  by  conquer- 
ing armies.  The  rugged  Alps  could  not  ward 
off  Hannibal,  who  made  his  way  through  them 
to  march  upon  the  capital  of  the  Roman  empire. 
In  like  manner  Napoleon  defied  this  great  natu- 
ral rampart,  made  a  road  through  it,  and  came 


Mountains  and  Men.  27 

to  Italy.  No  mountains  would  seem  to  be  quite 
impassable ;  but  although  liable  in  the  course  of 
ages  to  be  occasionally  overrun,  they  afford  good 
protection  and  produce  a  feeling  of  security. 

The  Himalayas  separate  our  great  Indian 
empire  from  that  of  China ;  and  we  do  not  at 
present  apprehend  an  invasion  from  that  quar- 
ter. The  Suliman  Mountains  divide  us  from 
the  Afghans,  and  the  great  Russian  and  Persian 
empires  farther  west.  Still,  we  know  that  in 
the  eleventh  century  a  great  Mahometan  inva- 
sion of  India  took  place ;  our  own  armies  have 
more  than  once  penetrated  to  Kabul.  Perhaps 
the  common  garden  wall  separating  adjacent 
suburban  residences  furnishes  a  suitable  illus- 
tration of  the  great  natural  walls  which  divide, 
not  households  or  families,  but  much  larger  fami- 
lies than  these,  —  the  nations  of  the  world. 

Just  as  unruly  boys  sometimes  climb  over  the 
neighbour's  wall  and  play  games  in  a  garden 
which  is  not  their  own ;  or  as  burglars  may  sur- 
mount these  obstacles  to  their  progress,  and 
finding  a  way  into  the  house  by  a  back  door  or 
kitchen  window,  commence  their  ravages,  —  so  a 
neighbouring  (but  not  neighbourly)  nation,  bent 
on  conquest,  may  invade  some  natural  garden 


28  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

of  the  world,  such  as  India,  by  forcing  their 
way  through  physical  barriers  which  for  ordi- 
nary purposes  serve  to  protect  those  within. 

The  Thian  Shan  Mountains  divide  Russia 
from  China's  sphere  of  influence.  The  Caucasus 
Mountains  separate  Russia  from  Asia  Minor. 
Austro-Hungary  is  bounded  by  the  Carpathians, 
Spain  by  the  Pyrenees.  The  Alps  of  Switzer- 
land separate  four  nations  not  very  friendly  to 
each  other ;  and  lastly,  in  our  own  country  the 
Cheviot  Hills,  together  with  the  Tweed,  form  the 
boundary  between  Scotland  and  England. 

Where  there  are  no  mountains  or  hills,  rivers 
sometimes  serve  as  boundaries,  but  of  course 
they  do  not  answer  the  purpose  so  well.  Some- 
times a  nation  actually  builds  a  wall  for  a  boun- 
dary. Of  this  the  great  wall  of  China  and  the 
Roman  wall  between  the  Cheviots  and  the  Sol- 
way  Firth  are  familiar  examples. 

In  the  second  place,  mountains  have  always 
been  a  refuge  and  shelter  for  conquered  races ; 
and  the  primitive  tribes  who  once  lived  in 
the  plains  have  been  forced  by  adverse  circum- 
stances to  take  to  the  hills.  This  has  taken 
place  over  and  over  again. 

We  know  that  the  Celtic  people  now  living 


Mountains  and  Men.  29 

in  Brittany,  Devonshire,  Cornwall;  Wales,  Scot- 
land, and  Ireland,  though  now  considerably 
mixed,  are  the  descendants  of  the  old  Celtic  in- 
habitants of  France  and  Britain.  But  there  is 
a  great  deal  of  unwritten  history  for  which  we 
may  look  in  vain  to  the  ordinary  sources  of  in- 
formation, such  as  books,  and  which  is  only  to  be 
read  in  quite  different  records,  —  in  antiquities 
buried  up  in  peat-beds,  in  bogs,  in  ruins  and  an- 
cient forts,  or  camps ;  and  last  but  not  least,  in 
the  names  of  places,  rivers,  or  mountains.  The 
hills,  the  valleys,  the  rivers,  are  the  only  writing- 
tablets  on  which  unlettered  nations  have  been 
able  to  inscribe  their  annals.  For  this  kind  of 
history  we  must  go  to  the  antiquary,  and,  above 
all,  to  the  philologist,  who  tells  us  the  meaning 
of  the  names  of  places,  and  who  the  people  were 
who  gave  the  names  that  we  see  on  our  maps. 
The  great  advances  which  have  of  late  years 
been  made  in  our  knowledge  of  the  primeval 
races  of  men,  or  at  least  of  nations  but  little 
known  in  the  annals  of  history,  are  largely  due 
to  the  interpretation  of  the  obscure  records  pre- 
served in  local  names.  The  Celtic,  the  Iberian, 
the  Teutonic,  the  Scandinavian,  and  Sclavonic 
races  have  thus  for  the  most  part  made  known 


30  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

to  us  their  migrations,  conquests,  and  defeats. 
And  so  by  studying  the  names  of  places,  rivers, 
and  hills,  as  well  as  by  careful  collection  of 
works  of  art,  implements,  coins,  such  as  may  be 
seen  in  many  a  museum,  it  has  been  possible  to 
read  a  great  deal  of  early  history  which  would 
otherwise  have  been  lost. 

Those  who  have  studied  these  matters  say 
they  can  trace  wave  after  wave  of  population 
which  has  thus  left  its  mark,  —  Gaelic,  Cymric 
(or  Welsh),  Saxon,  Anglian,  Norwegian,  Danish, 
Norman,  and  Flemish.  Thus  it  can  be  proved 
from  the  names  on  the  map  that  almost  the 
whole  of  England  was  once  Celtic,  whereas  now 
the  Celts  are  almost  entirely  confined  to  the 
hills.  The  Peak  of  Derbyshire  and  the  moun- 
tains of  Cumberland  retain  a  greater  number  of 
Celtic  names  than  the  districts  surrounding 
them  ;  and  the  hills  of  Devonshire  long  served 
as  a  barrier  to  protect  the  Celts  of  Cornwall 
from  Anglo-Saxon  conquerors. 

But  even  mountain  races  are  often  a  good 
deal  mixed,  and  in  the  Pyrenees  we  find  the  de- 
scendants of  the  Iberians,  who,  a  very  long  time 
ago,  were  driven  from  the  lowlands  of  France 
and  Spain.     These   Iberians   are  a  very  inter- 


Mountains  and  Men.  31 

esting  race,  of  short  stature,  with  long  heads, 
and  dark  hair  and  eyes.  This  old  type  is  to 
he  met  with  in  Wales  and  the  Highlands  even 
in  the  present  day.  And  so  we  learn  —  if  these 
conclusions  are  sound  —  that  even  the  Celts 
in  their  early  days  were  invaders,  and  drove 
before  them  an  older  population.  This  race,  it 
seems,  lived  in  Europe  a  very  long  time  ago,  be- 
fore the  discovery  of  metals,  when  people  made 
axes,  hammers,  and  spear-heads  out  of  flints  or 
other  stones ;  and  so  they  are  said  to  belong  to 
"  the  Stone  Age."  Their  remains  are  found  in 
many  of  the  caves  which  of  late  years  have 
been  explored.  Possibly  the  ancient  people  of 
Switzerland  who  lived  in  wooden  houses,  erected 
on  piles  near  the  shores  of  lakes  (probably  for 
safety),  were  also  of  the  same  stock. 

It  is  curious  to  find  how  people  living  in  sep- 
arate valleys  among  the  mountains  of  Switzer- 
land have,  in  the  course  of  time,  become  so 
much  unlike  their  neighbours  that  they  can 
hardly  understand  each  other's  speech,  so  effec- 
tually have  the  mountains  kept  them  apart.  In 
some  districts  almost  every  valley  has  its  sep- 
arate dialect.  Switzerland  is  only  twice  the 
size  of  Wales,  yet  the  local  names  are  derived 


32  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

from  half  a  dozen  different  languages,  three  or 
four  of  which  are  still  spoken  by  the  people.  In 
the  Alps,  too,  the  same  mixture  of  Celtic  with 
an  older  Iberian  stock  has  been  detected. 

A  curious  reversal  of  the  usual  order  of  things 
is  noticed  by  the  late  Dean  Stanley  in  his 
"  Sinai  and  Palestine. "  He  points  out  that  the 
Jews  took  possession  of  many  of  the  hills  of 
Palestine  soon  after  the  invasion  under  Joshua, 
but  could  not  drive  out  the  peoples  of  the  plains, 
because  they  were  better  armed,  and  had  chari- 
ots of  iron  in  great  number.  The  conquerors  in 
this  case  kept  to  the  hills ;  while  the  Canaanites, 
Philistines,  and  other  inhabitants  of  the  country 
retained  for  a  long  time  their  hold  of  the  lower 
ground. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    USES    OF   MOUNTAINS. 

The  valleys  only  feed;   the  mountains  feed  and  guard  and 
strengthen  us.  —  Ruskin. 

It  is  not  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  there  are 
no  physical  features  of  the  surface  of  the  earth 
which  render  such  a  variety  of  services  as  moun- 
tains. The  operations  which  they  perform  in- 
volve such  far-reaching  consequences  that  it  is 
difficult  to  say  where  their  effects  cease.  Indeed, 
it  might  almost  be  maintained  that  they  are  the 
mainspring  of  the  world,  —  as  far  as  its  surface 
is  concerned,  —  for  it  would  fare  ill  with  man- 
kind if  they  were  removed  or  in  some  way 
destroyed.  Things  would  then  very  soon  come  to 
a  standstill.  The  soil  would  become  exhausted ; 
streams  would  cease  to  flow ;  and  the  world  would 
become  a  kind  of  stagnant  pool. 

The   three   main   services    of    the   hills   are 
these :  — 


34  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

I.  Mountains  help  to  condense  water-vapour  from 
the  atmosphere,  thus  bringing  back  to  the  earth 
moisture  which  it  loses  continually  by  evaporation. 

II.  Mountains  are  elevated  reservoirs  of  water  in 
one  form  or  another,  and  thus  not  only  feed  the 
streams  and  rivers,  but  give  them  force  and  direction 
as  well. 

III.  Mountains  suffer  themselves  to  be  slowly  worn 
away  in  order  that  the  face  of  the  earth  may  be  re- 
newed; in  other  words,  they  die  that  we,  and  all 
created  things,  may  live. 

I.  Mountains  help  to  condense  water-vapour 
from  the  atmosphere,  thus  bringing  back  to  the  earth 
the  moisture  which  it  loses  continually  by  evapora- 
tion. Every  one  knows  that  there  is  abundance 
of  water-vapour  in  the  atmosphere,  but  the 
question  arises,  How  does  it  get  there  ?  The 
answer  to  this  lies  in  the  simple  fact  that  every 
surface  of  water  exposed  to  the  air  undergoes 
loss  by  evaporation.  If  you  wish  to  satisfy  your- 
self on  this  point,  place  a  saucer  of  water  in  your 
room,  and  in  a  few  days  it  will  all  be  gone.  We 
hang  clothes  out  to  dry,  and  so  avail  ourselves  of 
this  curious  power  that  air  has  of  taking  up 
water  in  the  form  of  vapour.  Steam,  or  wrater- 
vapour,  is  really  invisible,  though  we  frequently 


The  Uses  of  Mountains.  35 

talk  of  seeing  the  steam  issuing  from  a  locomo- 
tive ;  but  what  we  really  see  is  a  cloud  of 
condensed  steam,  and  such  clouds,  like  those 
that  we  see  floating  in  the  air,  are  really  masses 
of  little  tiny  particles  of  water  which  can  reflect 
or  throw  back  the  light  which  falls  upon  them, 
and  thus  they  become  visible.  Again,  a  kettle 
of  water,  if  left  too  long  on  the  fire  will  entirely 
boil  away.  It  is  all  turned  into  steam,  and  the 
steam  is  somehow  hidden  away  in  the  air,  though 
a  little  of  it  will  be  condensed  into  slight  clouds 
by  the  colder  air  outside  the  kettle. 

But  how  can  water  stow  itself  away  in  the  air 
without  being  seen  or  felt  ? 

An  illustration  may  help  to  explain  this.  Sup- 
pose you  scatter  a  spoonful  of  small  shot  over  a 
carpet  or  a  dark-coloured  table-cloth  ;  you  would 
probably  not  be  able  to  see  them  at  a  little  distance. 
Now,  gather  them  together  in  a  heap,  and  you 
see  them  at  once.  The  heap  of  shot  in  some 
ways  resembles  a  drop  of  water,  for  in  a  drop  of 
water  the  tiny  particles  (or  molecules)  of  which 
it  is  composed  are  close  together  ;  but  by  heating 

1  It  has  lately  been  proved  that  clouds  can  only  form  in  air 
which  contains  dust,  and  that  each  little  suspended  particle  of 
water  contains  a  speck  of  dust  or  a  tiny  germ  of  some  sort  for 
its  nucleus. 


36  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

water  you  cause  them  to  fly  asunder  and  scatter 
themselves  in  various  directions.  They  are  lost 
to  sight,  and  moreover  have  no  power  of  attract- 
ing each  other  or  of  acting  in  concert ;  each  one 
then  takes  its  own  course,  whereas  in  the  drop  of 
water  they  were  in  some  wonderful  way  bound 
together  by  mutual  attraction.  They  dance  in 
groups  ;  but  the  rude  force  of  heat  will  scatter 
these  little  dancing  groups,  and  break  them  up 
into  that  state  which  we  call  a  state  of  vapour. 

The  forces  of  heat  and  cohesion  are  directly  at 
variance ;  and  it  is  just  a  question  of  degree 
whether  the  one  or  the  other  gets  the  mastery  in 
this  "tug  of  war."  The  more  you  heat  the 
water,  the  faster  the  little  groups  of  molecules 
break  up  and  disappear  in  the  air.  They 
must  in  some  way  go  moving  between  the 
particles  of  air,  and  collisions  keep  taking  place 
with  inconceivable  rapidity. 

And  now  another  question  arises ;  namely, 
how  much  water-vapour  can  the  air  take  ?  That 
depends  chiefly  on  its  temperature.  Air  when 
heated  will  take  up  a  great  deal  of  steam ;  and 
the  more  you  heat  air,  the  more  it  can  take  up. 
When  air  at  a  given  temperature  can  take  up 
no  more,  it  is  said  to  be  saturated  for  that  tern- 


The  Uses  of  Mountains.  37 

perature;  but  if  the  temperature  be  raised,  it 
will  immediately  begin  to  take  up  more.  For 
each  degree  of  temperature  there  is  a  certain 
amount  of  water-vapour  which  can  be  absorbed, 
and  no  more.  But  suppose  we  take  some  air 
which  is  already  saturated  and  lower  its  tem- 
perature by  giving  it  a  sudden  chill,  what  will 
happen?  It  will  immediately  give  up  part  of 
its  steam,  or  water-vapour;  namely,  the  exact 
amount  which  it  is  unable  to  contain  at  the 
lower  temperature.1 

There  are  various  ways  in  which  you  can  test 
this  matter  for  yourself.  For  instance,  take  a 
hand-glass,  and  breathe  on  it.  You  know  what 
will  happen  :  a  film  of  moisture  forms  upon  it ; 
and  you  know  the  reason  why.  It  is  simply 
that  the  cold  glass  gives  a  chill  to  one's  breath 
(which  being  warm  is  highly  charged  with 
water- vapour  from  the  lungs),  and  so  some  of 
the  vapour  is  at  once  condensed.  Now,  this 
serves  very  well  to  explain  how  mountains 
catch  water-vapour,  and  condense  it.  They 
are,  as  it  were,  a  cold  looking-glass ;  and  the 
hot  breath  of  the  plains,  as  it  strikes  their  sides, 

1  Pressure  also  has  an  important  influence,  but  was  omitted 
above  for  the    sake  of  simplicity. 


38  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

receiving  a  sudden  chill,  throws  down  part  of 
the  vapour  it  contains.  On  the  higher  parts  of 
mountain-ranges  the  cold  is  so  great  that  the 
water  assumes  the  form  of  snow. 

Mountains,  as  every  one  knows,  are  colder 
than  the  plains  below.  No  one  cares  to  stay 
very  long  on  a  mountain-top,  for  fear  of  catch- 
ing cold.  It  may  be  worth  while  to  consider 
why  they  are  cold.  Perhaps  you  answer,  "  Be- 
cause they  are  so  high."  That  is  true,  but  not  a 
complete  answer  to  our  question.  We  must 
look  at  the  matter  a  little  more  closely.  The 
earth  is  a  warm  body  surrounded  by  space  in 
which  the  cold  is  inconceivably  intense ;  but 
just  as  we  protect  our  bodies  against  cold  with 
garments,  so  the  earth  is  wrapped  up  in  an  at- 
mosphere which  serves  more  or  less  to  keep  in 
the  heat.  All  warm  bodies  give  out  heat  as 
luminous  bodies  give  out  light ;  but  the  rays  of 
heat,  unlike  those  of  light,  are  quite  invisible  to 
our  eyes,  so  that  we  are  unaware  of  them.  These 
"dark  heat-rays,"  as  they  are  called,  do  not 
make  any  impression  on  the  retina,  because  our 
eyes  are  not  capable  of  responding  to  them  as 
they  do  to  the  ordinary  rays  of  light.  But 
there  is  a  delicate  little,  instrument  known  as 


> 

Sz; 

PQ 

o 

CO 

A 
P 
O 

o 


The  Uses  of  Mountains.  39 

the  thermopile,  which  responds  to,  and  so  de- 
tects these  invisible  rays ;  and  if  our  eyes  were 
sensitive  to  such  vibrations  as  these,  we  should 
see  heat-rays  (which  like  light  and  sound  are 
due  to  vibrations)  streaming  from  every  object, 
just  as  light  does  from  a  candle-flame. 

Those  parts  of  the  earth  which  are  least 
covered  or  protected  by  the  atmosphere  lose 
heat  most  rapidly,  —  in  the  same  way  that  on 
a  frosty  day  one's  fingers  become  cold  unless 
covered  up.  Now,  there  is  less  air  over  moun- 
tains ;  and  in  those  higher  regions  above  the 
peaks  what  air  there  is,  is  more  rarefied,  and 
therefore  less  capable  of  stopping  the  heat-rays 
coming  from  the  earth.  Professor  Tyndall  has 
shown  that,  water-vapour  in  the  air  has  a  great 
power  of  stopping  dark  heat-rays;  and  the 
lower  regions,  which  contain  more  vapour,  stop 
or  absorb  a  good  deal  of  heat  which  would  other- 
wise escape  into  space. 

Look  at  a  map  of  any  continent,  and  you  will 
see  the  rivers  streaming  away  from  the  moun- 
tains. All  those  vast  quantities  of  water  come 
from  the  atmosphere ;  and  mountains  do  a  large 
share  of  the  work  of  condensing  it  from  the  state 
of  vapour  to  that  of  water.      Take  the  map  of 


40  The  Story  of  the  Hills, 

India,  and  look  at  the  great  range  of  the  Hima- 
layas. At  their  feet  is  the  hot  valley  of  the 
Ganges,  which  meets  that  of  the  Brahmapootra 
River.  An  immense  amount  of  evaporation  takes 
place  from  these  mighty  rivers,  so  that  the  air 
above  them  becomes  laden  with  water-vapour. 
Farther  south  is  the  tropical  Indian  Ocean, 
from  which  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun  draw 
up  still  vaster  quantities  of  water.  And  so 
when  south  winds  blow  over  India,  they  are  full 
of  water- vapour ;  and  presently  they  strike  the 
flanks  of  the  Himalayas,  and  at  once  they  are 
chilled,  and  consequently  part  with  a  large 
amount  of  the  vapour  which  they  contained. 
This  is  best  illustrated  by  the  case  of  the  south- 
west monsoon  wind  of  the  summer  season,  which 
sets  in  during  the  month  of  April,  and  continues 
to  blow  steadily  towards  the  northeast  till  Octo- 
ber. After  leaving  the  Bay  of  Bengal,  this  warm 
wind,  laden  with  vapour,  meets  ere  long  with 
the  range  known  as  the  Khasi  Hills,  and  con- 
sequently throws  down  a  large  part  of  its  va- 
pour in  the  form  of  rain.  The  rainfall  here  in 
the  summer  season  reaches  the  prodigious  total 
of  five  hundred  inches,  or  about  twenty  times  as 
much  as  falls  in  London  during  a  whole  year. 


The  Uses  of  Mountains,  41 

After  passing  over  these  hills,  the  monsoon 
wind  presently  reaches  the  Himalayas ;  and 
another  downpour  then  takes  place,  until  by 
the  time  it  reaches  the  wide  plains  of  Thibet, 
so  much  water  has  been  given  up  that  it  be- 
comes a  very  dry  wind  instead  of  a  moist  one. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  the 
condensation  effected  by  mountains  is  entirely 
due  to  this  coldness.  They  have  another  simple 
and  effective  way  of  compelling  the  winds  to 
give  up  rain :  their  sloping  sides  force  the  winds 
which  strike  them  to  ascend  into  higher  regions, 
—  wedging  them  up  as  waves  run  up  a  sloping 
stony  bank  on  the  seashore,  —  and  when  the 
winds  reach  higher  regions  of  the  atmosphere 
they  must  (as  explained  above)  suffer  loss  of 
heat,  or  in  other  words,  have  their  temperature 
lowered.  They  also  expand  considerably  as 
they  rise  into  regions  where  the  atmospheric 
pressure  is  less ;  and  as  every  gas  or  vapour 
loses  heat  in  the  act  of  expansion,  they  undergo 
a  further  cooling  from  this  cause  also. 

We  have  now  learned  that  the  cooling  process 
is  brought  about  in  three  different  ways  :  (1)  By 
contact  with  the  cold  body  of  the  mountains  ; 
(2)  By  giving  out  heat  into  space  ;  (3)  By  ex- 


42  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

pansion  of  the  air  as  it  readies  into  the  higher 
regions  of  the  atmosphere.  The  "  cloud-caps  " 
on  certain  mountains  and  promontories  are  to 
be  explained  by  all  these  causes  combined. 

The  west  coast  of  Great  Britain  illustrates 
the  same  thing  on  a  smaller  scale.  There  the 
warm  waters  of  the  Gulf  Stream,  travelling  in 
a  northeasterly  direction  straight  away  from 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  strike  the  west  coast  of 
Ireland,  England,  and  Scotland  ;  and  as  most 
people  are  aware,  the  mild  climate  of  Great 
Britain  is  chiefly  due  to  this  fact.  If  you  con- 
trast for  a  moment  the  east  and  west  coasts  of 
Britain,  you  will  see  that  the  latter  is  much 
more  rocky  and  mountainous  than  the  east 
coast.  Mountains  run  down  nearly  all  our 
western  coasts.  Now,  it  is  this  elevated  and 
rocky  side  of  Britain  which  catches  most  of  the 
rain.  Very  instructive  it  is  to  compare  the 
annual  rainfall  in  different  parts  of  Britain. 
On  Dartmoor  about  86  inches  of  rain  fall  every 
year,  while  in  London  only  about  24  inches 
fall  annually ;  but  then  London  has  no  range 
of  mountains  near,  and  is  far  away  from  the 
west  coast.  Again,  while  people  in  Ambleside 
have  to  put  up  with  78  inches  of  rain,  in  Nor- 


The  Uses  of  Mountains.  43 

folk  they  are  content  with  the  modest  allowance 
of  24  inches  or  so.  At  a  place  called  Quoich 
on  the  west  coast  of  Scotland,  about  117  inches 
fall  every  year.  These  differences  are  chiefly 
due  to  the  different  contour  of  the  land  down 
the  west  side  of  Britain,  which  is  mountainous, 
while  the  east  side  is  flat,  and  also  to  the  fact 
that  while  easterly  winds,  which  have  come 
over  the  continent,  are  dry,  our  prevailing  winds 
are  from  the  west  and  southwest,  and  are  con- 
sequently heavily  laden  with  vapour  from  the 
Atlantic  Ocean.  These  winds  follow  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Gulf  Stream,  driving  it  along  before 
them ;  and  in  so  doing  they  take  up  large  quan- 
tities of  vapour  from  its  surface.  When  these 
warm  winds  touch  our  western  coasts,  they 
receive  a  chill,  and  consequently  are  no  longer 
able  to  contain  all  the  vapour  which  they  bring 
with  them,  and  so  down  comes  the  rain. 

II.  Mountains  are  elevated  reservoirs  of  tvater 
in  one  form  or  another,  and  thus  not  only  feed 
the  streams  and  rivers,  but  give  them  force  and 
direction  as  well.  It  is  very  important  that  the 
mountains  should  not  allow  the  waters  they 
collect  to  run  away  too  fast.     Try  to  think  for 


44  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

a  moment  what  would  happen  if  instead  of 
being,  as  it  were,  locked  up  in  the  form  of  snow- 
fields  and  glaciers,  the  water  were  all  in  the 
liquid  form.  It  would  soon  run  away,  and  for 
months  together  the  great  river-valleys  would 
be  dry  and  desolate.  When  the  rain  came,  there 
would  be  tremendous  floods ;  dire  destruction 
would  be  wrought  in  the  valleys ;  and  very  soon 
the  great  rivers  would  dwindle  down  to  nothing. 
Vegetation  too  would  suffer  seriously  for  want 
of  water  during  the  summer  months ;  and  the 
valleys  generally  would  cease  to  be  the  fertile 
sources  of  life  which  they  are  at  present.  The 
earth  would  become  for  the  most  part  like  a 
stagnant  marsh. 

But  in  the  higher  mountain  regions  there  is  a 
beneficent  process  going  on  which  averts  such 
an  evil.  The  precious  supplies  of  water  are 
stored  up  in  the  solid  forms  of  snow  and  ice. 
Now,  we  all  know  that  snow  and  ice  take  a 
long  time  to  melt ;  and  thus  Nature  regulates 
and  like  a  prudent  housewife  economises  her 
precious  stores.  The  rivers  which  she  feeds 
continually,  from  silent  snowfields  and  glaciers 
among  her  mountain-peaks,  are  the  very  arteries 
and  veins  of  the  earth  ;  and  as  the  blood  in  our 


The  Uses  of  Mountains,  45 

bodies  is  forced  to  circulate  by  pressure  from 
the  heart,  so  the  rivers  are  compelled  to  flow  by 
pressure  from  the  great  heart  of  the  hills, — 
slow,  steady,  continuous  pressure,  not  the  quick 
pulses  which  the  human  heart  sends  through 
the  body. 

And  again,  as  the  blood,  after  circulating 
through  the  body  in  an  infinite  number  of  life- 
giving  streams,  returns  to  the  heart  once  more 
on  its  journey,  so  the  thousand  streams  which 
wander  over  the  plains  find  their  way  back 
to  the  heart  of  the  mountains,  for  the  water  is 
brought  there  in  the  form  of  vapour  and  clouds 
by  the  winds. 

When  we  build  water-towers,  and  make  res- 
ervoirs on  high  ground  to  give  pressure  to  the 
water  in  our  pipes,  and  make  it  circulate  every- 
where, —  even  to  the  tops  of  our  houses,  —  we 
are  only  taking  a  hint  from  Nature.  The  moun- 
tains are  her  water-towers,  and  from  these  strong 
reservoirs,  which  never  burst,  she  commands 
her  streams,  forcing  them  along  their  courses  in 
order  that  they  may  find  their  way  to  the 
utmost  bounds  of  continents. 

But  there  is  another  way  in  which  mountains 
regulate  the  supply  of   water,  and   prevent  it 


46  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

from  running  away  too  fast,  —  one  not  so  effec- 
tive as  the  freezing  process,  but  still  very  useful, 
because  it  applies  to  the  lower  hills  below  the 
line  of  perpetual  snow.  This  may  be  well  illus- 
trated by  the  state  of  some  of  the  Scotch  hills 
in  the  middle  of  summer  or  autumn,  when  there 
is  little  if  any  snow  resting  upon  them. 

Any  one  familiar  with  these  hills  will  have 
noticed  how  full  of  water  their  sides  are.  Tiny 
threads  of  streams  trickle  slowly  along  every- 
where ;  peat-beds  are  saturated  with  dark-brown 
water ;  even  the  grass  and  soil  are  generally 
more  or  less  wet,  especially  under  pine  forests. 
One  can  generally  get  a  cup  of  water  some- 
where, except  after  a  long  dry  summer,  which  is 
exceptional.  Then  there  is  the  dew  forming 
every  night.  Forests  with  their  undergrowth 
of  soil  —  moss  and  fern  —  also  help  very  con- 
siderably to  check  the  flow  of  water.  We  have 
often  asked  ourselves  when  watching  some  swift- 
flowing  river,  "  Where  does  all  this  water  come 
from  ?  Why  does  it  not  dry  up  in  hot  weather? ' 
The  answer  came  fully  after  we  had  climbed 
several  mountains,  and  seen  with  our  eyes  the 
peat-beds  among  the  hills,  and  heard  the  tric- 
kling of  the  tiny  rivulets  hurrying  along  to  feed 


The   Uses  of  Mountains.  47 

some  neighbouring  burn,  or  perhaps  to  run  into 
some  mountain  tarn  or  loch,  and  noticed  the 
damp,  spongy  state  of  the  soil  everywhere, — 
not  to  mention  the  little  springs  which  here  and 
there  well  up  to  the  surface,  and  so  contribute 
their  share. 

The  rivers  and  streams  of  Scotland  assume 
various  tints  of  amber  and  dark-brown,  accord- 
ing to  the  amount  of  rain  which  has  recently 
fallen.  These  colours  are  due  to  organic  matter 
from  the  peat.  Compare  Scott's  description  of 
the  Greta :  — 

"  In  yellow  light  her  currents  shone, 
MatchiDg  in  hue  the  favourite  gem 
Of  Albion's  mountain  diadem." 

The  waters  of  some  Scotch  rivers  after  heavy 
rain  look  as  black  as  pitch. 

Nor  must  we  omit  the  lakes  which  abound  in 
most  mountain  regions,  and  serve  as  natural  res- 
ervoirs for  the  rivers,  besides  giving  a  wonder- 
ful charm  to  mountain  scenery. 

The  largest  lakes  in  mountainous  regions  are 
found  on  the  courses  of  the  rivers  ;  and  there  is 
good  reason  to  believe  that  they  were  formed, 
not  by  any  process  of  subsidence,  but  by  the 
same  operations  that  carved  out  the  valleys.    In 


48  The  Story  of  the  Hills, 

many  cases  they  are  due  to  the  damming  up  of 
a  stream.  But  in  some  countries  the  streams 
dry  up  during  summer,  —  in  Palestine  or  Sinai,  , 
where  there  is  but  little  soil  on  the  hills,  and  i 
consequently  hardly  any  vegetation.  Such  bar- 
ren hills  cannot  hold  the  continual  supplies 
which  pour  gently  forth  from  the  mountains  of 
higher  latitudes. 

The  Alps  feed  four  of  the  principal  rivers  of 
Europe.  We  cannot  do  better  than  quote  Pro- 
fessor Bonney,  whose  writings  on  the  Alps  are 
familiar  to  all  geologists.  In  his  "  Alpine  Re- 
gions of  Switzerland "  the  following  passage 
occurs :  — 

u  This  mass  of  mountains,  the  great  highlands  of 
Europe,  is  therefore  of  the  utmost  physical  and  geo- 
graphical importance.  Rising  in  places  to  a  height 
of  more  than  fifteen  thousand  feet  above  the  sea, 
and  covered  for  an  extent  of  many  thousand  square 
miles  with  perpetual  snow,  it  is  the  chief  feeder  of 
four  of  the  principal  rivers  in  Europe,  —  the  Po,  the 
Rhone,  the  Rhine,  and  the  Danube.  But  for  those 
barren  fields  of  ice,  high  up  among  the  silent  crags, 
the  seeming  home  of  winter  and  death,  these  great 
arteries  of  life  would  every  summer  dwindle  down  to 
paltry  streams,  feebly  wandering  over  stone-strewn 
beds.     Stand,  for  example,  on  some   mountain-spur, 


The   Uses  of  Mountains.  49 

and  look  down  on  the  Lombardy  plain,  all  one  rich 
carpet  of  wheat  and  maize,  of  rice  and  vine ;  the  life 
of  those  myriad  threads  of  green  and  gold  is  fed 
from  these  icy  peaks,  which  stand  out  against  the 
northern  sky  in  such  strange  and  solemn  contrast. 
As  it  is  with  the  Po,  so  it  is  with  the  Rhine  and  the 
Rhone,  both  of  which  issue  from  the  Alps  as  broad, 
swelling  streams;  so,  too,  with  the  Danube,  which, 
although  it  does  not  rise  in  them,  yet  receives  from 
the  Inn  and  the  Drave  almost  all  the  drainage  of  the 
eastern  districts." 

A  very  little  reflection  will  serve  to  convince 
any  one  how  vastly  important  and  beneficial  is 
the  slope  of  the  mountains,  and  how  it  gives 
force  and  direction  to  streams  and  rivers.  With- 
out this  force,  due  to  universal  gravitation,  by 
which  the  waters  seek  continually  lower  levels, 
the  supplies  in  the  hills  would  be  useless.  Mere 
lakes  on  flat  surfaces  would  not  answer  the 
purpose ;  and  so  the  sources  of  water  are 
elevated  in  order  that  it  may  pour  over  the 
world  below. 

No  writer  has  given  such  fascinating  descrip- 
tions of  mountains  as  Mr.  Ruskin ;  and  no  one 
has  more  eloquently  described  the  functions  they 
perform.     In  the  fourth  volume  of  his  "  Modern 


50  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

Painters/'  which  every  one  who  cares  for  moun- 
tains should  read,  we  find  the  following  beautiful 
passage :  — 

"  Every  fountain  and  river,  from  the  inch-deep 
streamlet  that  crosses  the  village  lane  in  trembling 
clearness,  to  the  massy  and  silent  march  of  the  ever- 
lasting multitude  of  waters  in  Amazon  or  Ganges,  owe 
their  play  and  purity  and  power  to  the  ordained  eleva- 
tions of  the  earth.  Gentle  or  steep,  extended  or  abrupt, 
some  determined  slope  of  the  earth's  surface  is  of  course 
necessary  before  any  wave  can  so  much  as  overtake 
one  sedge  in  its  pilgrimage  ;  and  how  seldom  do  we 
enough  consider,  as  we  walk  beside  the  margins  of  our 
pleasant  brooks,  how  beautiful  and  wonderful  is  that 
ordinance,  of  which  every  blade  of  grass  that  waves  in 
their  clear  waters  is  a  perpetual  sign,  —  that  the  dew 
and  rain  fallen  on  the  face  of  the  earth  shall  find  no 
resting-place  ;  shall  find,  on  the  contrary,  fixed  chan- 
nels traced  for  them  from  the  ravines  of  the  central 
crests  down  which  they  roar  in  sudden  ranks  of  foam 
to  the  dark  hollows  beneath  the  banks  of  lowland  pas- 
ture, round  which  they  must  circle  slowly  among  the 
stems  and  beneath  the  leaves  of  the  lilies  ;  paths  pre- 
pared for  them  by  which,  at  some  appointed  rate  of 
journey,  they  must  evermore  descend,  sometimes  slow, 
and  sometimes  swift,  but  never  pausing ;  the  daily 
portion  of  the  earth  they  have  to  glide  over  marked  for 
them  at  each  successive  sunrise ;  the  place  which  has 


The  Uses  of  Mountains.  51 

known  them  knowing  them  no  more ;  and  the  gate- 
ways of  guarding  mountains  opened  for  them  in  cleft 
and  chasm,  none  letting  them  in  their  pilgrimage,  and 
from  afar  off  the  great  heart  of  the  sea  calling  them 
to  itself :  '  Deep  calleth  unto  deep.' 


5    J> 


Geologists,  however,  do  not  in  these  days 
teach  that  the  present  paths  of  rivers  were  made 
for  them,  but  rather  that  the  rivers  have  carved 
out  their  own  valleys  for  themselves.  The  old 
teaching  before  the  days  of  Lyell  and  Hutton, 
the  founders  of  modern  geology,  was  that  valleys 
were  rents  in  the  rocks  of  the  earth's  crust  formed 
by  some  wonderful  convulsion  of  Nature,  where- 
by they  were  cracked,  torn  asunder,  and  up- 
heaved. But  a  careful  study  of  rivers  and  their 
valleys  for  many  years  has  shown  that  there  is 
no  evidence  of  such  sudden  convulsions.  The 
world  is  very  old  indeed,  and  rivers  have  been 
flowing  much  as  we  see  them  for  ages  and  ages. 
A  few  thousand  years  is  to  the  geologist  but  a 
short  space  of  time  ;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  a  stream  can  in  the  course  of  time  carve  out 
for  itself  a  valley.  The  operations  of  Nature  seem 
slow  to  us  because  our  lives  are  so  short,  and  we 
can  see  so  little  change  even  in  a  generation  ;  but 
the  effects  of  these  changes  mount  up  enormously 


52  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

when  continued  through  a  long  space  of  time. 
Nature  works  slowly  ;  but  then  she  has  unlimited 
time,  and  never  seems  in  a  hurry.  It  is  like  the  old 
story  of  the  hare  and  the  tortoise  ;  and  the  river, 
working  on  steadily  and  quietly  for  hundreds  or 
thousands  of  years,  accomplishes  far  more  in  the 
end  than  sudden  floods  or  violent  catastrophes  of 
any  sort. 

III.  Mountains  suffer  themselves  to  he  sloivly 
worn  away  in  order  that  the  face  of  the  earth  may 
he  renewed ;  in  other  ivords,  they  die  that  ive,  and 
all  created  things,  may  live.  The  reader  will  find 
a  full  account  of  the  methods  by  which  these  re- 
sults are  accomplished  in  chapters  v.  and  vii., 
and  therefore  we  must  not  anticipate  this  part  of 
the  subject.  Let  it  suffice  for  the  present  to  say 
that  this  destruction  of  the  hills  is  brought  about 
by  the  action  of  heat  and  cold,  of  rain  and  frost, 
of  snow  and  ice,  and  the  thousand  streams  that 
flow  down  the  mountain-sides.  It  is  with  soils 
that  we  are  chiefly  concerned  at  present:  Try  to 
think  for  a  moment  of  the  literally  vital  conse- 
quences which  follow  from  the  presence  of  good 
rich  soils  over  different  parts  of  the  earth,  and 
ask   whether  it  would  be  possible  for  civilised 


The  Uses  of  Mountains.  53 

races  of  men  to  flourish  and  multiply  as  they  do  if 
it  were  not  for  the  great  fertile  valleys  and  plains 
of  the  world.  Mountain  races  are  neither  rich 
nor  powerful.  Man  exists  mainly  by  cultivation 
of  the  soil ;  and  among  mountains  we  only  find 
here  and  there  patches  that  are  worthy  of  the 
labour  and  expenditure  of  capital  involved  in 
cultivation.  But  in  the  great  plains,  in  the  prin- 
cipal river-valleys  of  the  world,  and  among  the 
lesser  hill-ranges  it  is  different.  The  lowlands 
are  the  fertile  regions.  All  great  and  powerful 
nations  of  the  world  are  children  of  the  plains. 
It  was  so  in  the  past ;  it  will  be  so  in  the 
future,  unless  men  learn  to  feed  on  something 
else  than  corn,  milk,  and  flesh,  which  is  not  very 
likely. 

The  Egyptians,  the  earliest  civilised  race  of 
which  we  have  satisfactory  records,  dwelt  in  the 
fertile  valley  and  delta  of  the  Nile.  They  clearly 
perceived  the  value  of  this  great  river  to  them- 
selves, and  worshipped  it  accordingly.  They 
knew  nothing  of  its  source  in  the  far-away  lakes 
of  Central  Africa ;  but  they  knew  truly,  as  He- 
rodotus tells  us,  that  Egypt  was  "  the  gift  of  the 
Nile,"  for  the  alluvial  soil  of  its  delta  has  been 
formed  by  the  yearly  floods  of  that  great  river, 


54  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

as  its  waters,  laden  with  a  fine  rich  mud,  spread 
over  its  banks,  and  for  a  time  filled  the  valley 
with  one  sheet  of  water.  The  Assyrians  and 
Babylonians  had  their  home  in  the  valley  of  the 
Euphrates  and  Tigris.  The  Chinese,  too,  have 
their  great  rivers.  Russia  is  well  watered  by 
powerful  rivers.  The  most  populous  parts  of  the 
United  States  of  America  are  watered  by  the 
great  Mississippi,  and  the  other  rivers  which  flow 
into  it.  England,  Germany,  and  France  are 
furnished  with  well-watered  plains. 

Soils  are  the  chief  form  of  national  wealth. 
Minerals,  such  as  coal  and  iron,  are  of  course 
extremely  valuable,  and  help  to  make  an  indus- 
trious race  rich  ;  but  the  land  is  the  main  thing, 
after  all,  and  by  land  we  mean  soil.  The  two 
words  are  almost  synonymous.  But  since  the 
soil  is  formed  chiefly  of  debris  brought  from  the 
mountains,  it  would  be  more  true  to  say  that 
these  are  the  real  sources  of  wealth.  Soils  con- 
tain besides  a  large  amount  of  valuable  organic 
matter  (that  is,  decayed  matter  which  has  once 
had  animal  or  vegetable  life)  different  kinds  of 
minerals,  which  are  necessary  to  the  support 
of  plant  life :  potash,  soda,  carbonate  of  lime, 
silica,    magnesia,   iron,    phosphorus,  and    man- 


The  Uses  of  Mountains.  55 

gafrese  in  their  various  compounds  are  all 
present  in  the  rocks  of  which  mountains  are 
composed.  We  must  again  fall  back  upon 
"  Modern  Painters "  for  an  effective  descrip- 
tion of  the  forming  of  soil  by  destruction  of 
the  hills :  — 

"  The  higher  mountains  suffer  their  summits  to  be 
broken  into  fragments  and  to  be  cast  down  in  sheets 
of  massy  rock,  full,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  of  every 
substance  necessary  for  the  nourishment  of  plants ; 
these  fallen  fragments  are  again  broken  by  frost,  and 
ground  by  torrents  into  various  conditions  of  sand  and 
clay,  —  materials  which  are  distributed  perpetually  by 
the  streams  farther  and  farther  from  the  mountain's 
base.  Every  shower  that  swells  the  rivulets  enables 
their  waters  to  carry  certain  portions  of  earth  into 
new  positions,  and  exposes  new  banks  of  ground  to  be 
moved  in  their  turn.  .  .  .  The  process  is  continued 
more  gently,  but  not  less  effectively,  over  all  the  sur- 
face of  the  lower  undulating  country ;  and  each  filter- 
ing thread  of  summer  rain  which  trickles  through  the 
short  turf  of  the  uplands  is  bearing  its  own  appointed 
burden  of  earth  down  on  some  new  natural  garden  in 
the  dingles  beneath." 

It  may  be  laid  down  as  a  simple  economic 
truth,  that  no  nation  can  be  powerful,  rich,  or 
prosperous,  unless  it  possess  in  the  first  place  a 


56  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

good  soil.  Other  conditions,  such  as  large  naviga- 
ble rivers,  a  good  seaboard  for  harbouring  ships, 
are  also  important  ;  but  unless  the  land  will 
yield  plenty  of  food,  the  population  cannot  be 
very  great,  for  people  must  be  fed.  Foreign 
supplies  of  corn  at  a  low  price,  meat  and  pro- 
visions of  various  kinds,  supplement  what  is 
grown  in  England  ;  but  without  a  good  soil 
we  could  not  have  become  a  powerful  nation. 

A  high  state  of  civilisation  is  in  a  large 
measure  to  be  traced  to  climate  and  soil.  The 
sequence  is  somewhat  as  follows :  — 

Mountains  collect  rain. 

Rain  fills  the  rivers. 

Rivers  make  rich  alluvial  plains. 

Agriculture  follows  ;    and  food  is  produced. 

Abundant  food  maintains  a  large  population. 

The  population  works  to  supply  its  various 
wants ;  such  as  roads,  railways,  ships,  houses, 
machinery,  etc.  Then  follows  exchange  with 
other  countries.  They  send  us  what  they  can 
best  produce,  and  we  send  them  what  we  can 
best  and  most  easily  produce,  and  so  both  par- 
ties gain. 

Thus  towns  spring  up.  Education,  refine- 
ment, learning,  and  the  higher  arts  follow  from 


The  Uses  of  Mountains.  57 

the  active  life  of  towns,  where  more  brain-work 
is  required,  and  the  standard  of  life  is  higher. 

And  thus  we  may,  in  imagination,. follow  step 
by  step  the  various  stages  by  which  the  highest 
phases  of  civilisation  are  brought  to  pass,  be- 
ginning at  the  mountains  and  ending  with 
human  beings  of  the  highest  type,  —  the  phil- 
osopher, artist,  poet,  or  statesman,  not  omitting 
the  gentler  sex,  who  are  often  said  to  rule  the 
world. 

The  following  lines  of  Milton  possess,  in  the 
light  of  these  facts,  a  deeper  meaning  than  the 
poet  probably  intended  to  convey  :  — 

"  Straight  mine  eye  hath  caught  new  pleasures 
Whilst  the  landscape  round  it  measures : 
Russet  lawns  and  fallows  grey, 
Where  the  nibbling  flocks  do  stray ; 
Mountains  on  whose  barren  breast 
The  labouring  clouds  do  often  rest; 
Meadows  trim  with  daisies  pied, 
Shallow  brooks  and  rivers  wide; 
Flowers  and  battlements  it  sees 
Bosomed  high  in  tufted  trees, — 
Where  perhaps  some  beauty  lies, 
The  cynosure  of  neighbouring  eyes." 

With  a  little  rearrangement  of  the  lines, 
the  sequence  we  have  indicated  above  would 
be  well  illustrated.  The  mountains  must 
come  first ;    then    the    clouds,    ready     to  bring 


58  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

forth  their  rain ;  then  the  brooks  and  rivers, 
then  "russet  lawns  and  fallows  grey/' — with 
their  "  nibbling  flocks."  Then  come  the 
human  elements  in  the  scene,  —  the  "  towers 
and  battlements,"  containing  armed  warriors, 
well  fed,  no  doubt,  and  ready  to  do  their  mas- 
ter's bidding ;  lastly,  the  lady  who  adorns  the 
home  of  her  lord,  and,  let  us  hope,  makes  it 
worth  fighting  for. 

For  commercial  purposes,  large  navigable 
rivers  are  of  great  use.  And  in  spite  of  the 
modern  railway,  rivers  still  exert  an  influence 
in  determining  the  routes  followed  by  trade. 
London,  Liverpool,  Glasgow,  and  other  busy 
centres  of  life  owe  their  importance  to  the 
rivers  which  flow  through  them,  especially  since 
they  are  tidal  rivers.  Heavily  laden  barges  may 
be  seen  from  London  Bridge  going  up  and  down 
with  the  tide  every  day. 

Since  the  direction  as  well  as  the  existence 
of  large  rivers  is  regulated  by  mountains,  it 
is  clear  that  mountains  have  a  very  direct  influ- 
ence on  the  trade  of  the  world. 

Mountains  supply  many  of  our  wants.  Be- 
sides water  and  soil,  how  many  useful  things 


The  Uses  of  Mountains.  59 

come  from  the  hills  !  Their  slopes,  watered 
by  the  clouds,  frequently  support  an  abundant 
growth  of  pine  forest ;  and  thus  we  get  wood  for 
the  shipwright  and  joiner.  Again,  mountains 
are  composed  of  harder  rocks  than  we  find  in 
the  plains,  and  that  is  one  reason  why  they 
stand  out  high  above  the  rest  of  the  world. 
Their  substance  has  been  hardened  to  with- 
stand for  a  longer  time  the  destruction  to  which 
all  rocks  are  subjected.  They  have  been  greatly 
compressed  and  generally  more  or  less  har- 
dened by  subterranean  heat.  We  bake  clay 
and  make  it  into  hard  bricks ;  so  Nature  has 
baked  and  otherwise  hardened  the  once  soft 
strata  of  which  *mountains  are  chiefly  com- 
posed, converting  them  into  slates,  schist, 
gneiss,  and  other  kinds  of  rock  called  "  meta- 
morphic '  by  geologists,  because  they  have 
been  altered  or  metamorphosed  from  their 
original  condition  (see  chapter  viii.,  page  277). 
Again,  granite,  basalt,  and  other  rocks  known 
as  "igneous,"  which  once  existed  in  a  molten 
condition,  have  forced  their  way  up  from  sub- 
terranean regions  into  the  rocks  forming  moun- 
tain-chains ;  and  a  good  deal  of  the  hardening 
just    alluded    to    is    due    to    the    presence    of 


60  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

these  fiery  intruders,  which  have  baked  and 
hardened  the  rocks  around  them  to  a  consider- 
able extent,  altering  at  the  same^  time  their 
mineral  composition.  The  same  causes  which 
led  to  the  injection  of  granite,  basalt,  and 
other  igneous  rocks  in  mountain-ranges  brought 
other  consequences  in  their  train.  Whatever 
the  causes,  they  were  closely  connected  with 
volcanic  eruptions,  so  that  highly  heated  water 
and  steam  found  their  way  through  cracks  and 
other  fissures  in  the  rocks ;  and  in  the  course 
of  time  the  chemical  actions  thus  set  up  led 
to  the  deposition  of  valuable  metallic  ores 
within  these  fissures.  In  this  way  mineral 
veins  were  formed ;  and  volcanic  action  seems 
to  be  largely  responsible  for  the  production  of 
minerals.  Thus  we  find  around  Vesuvius, 
and  in  fact  in  all  volcanic  regions,  large  and 
varied  supplies  of  minerals.  Now,  the  geolo- 
gist discovers  that  many  mountain-chains  — 
such,  for  example,  as  the  Grampians,  Alps,  and 
Carpathians  —  have  in  past  geological  periods 
been  the  seats  of  volcanic  action  on  a  grand 
scale ;  and  so  we  need  not  be  surprised  to  learn 
that  mountainous  countries  yield  large  sup- 
plies of  valuable  gems  and   metallic  ores  (see 


The  Uses  of  Mountains,  61 

chapter  viii.,  page  277).  Even  in  the  clays  of 
Solomon,  the  active  and  business-like  Phoeni- 
cians were  carrying  on  trade  with  Great  Britain ; 
and  the  tin  came  from  Cornwall.  Besides  tin, 
gold,  silver,  lead,  copper,  zinc,  and  other  metals 
come  from  our  hills.  Now,  however,  we  get 
our  copper  mostly  from  the  Andes,  and  our 
gold  from  Australia  or  South  Africa,  because 
it  can  be  got  more  cheaply  from  these  coun- 
tries, to  which  many  of  our  Cornish  miners 
have  emigrated. 

Precious  stones  also  come  chiefly  from  the 
hills,  for  the  same  reason  ;  for  they  were 
formed  at  the  same  time  and  by  the  same 
causes.  Cairngorms,  agates,  chalcedony,  jas- 
per, onyx,  topaz,  diamonds,  and  many  other 
gems  are  silent  but  certain  witnesses  to  the 
action  of  subterranean  heat,  acting  long  ago 
on  the  rocks  which  we  now  see  standing  up 
high  above  the  general  surface  of  the  ground, 
though  once  they  were  buried  deep  down  be- 
low the  surface.  Diamonds  as  well  as  gold 
are  often  got  from  the  beds  of  streams,  but 
this  is  easily  accounted  for  ;  the  streams  have 
washed  them  out  and  brought  them  down 
from  the  hills. 


62  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

The  following  words  from  the  Book  of  Job 
(xxviii.  5)  might  well  be  applied  to  the  hills. 

"As  for  the  earth,  out  of  it  cometh  bread  : 
And  underneath  it  is  turned  up  as  it  were  by  fire. 
The  stones  thereof  are  the  place  of  sapphires, 
And  it  hath  dust  of  gold." 

We  have  thus  explained  the  three  principal 
services  rendered  by  mountains,  but  some  others 
remain  to  be  mentioned. 

Mountains  have  an  important  influence  on  cli- 
mate. The  climate  of  highlands  everywhere  has 
certain  peculiarities  which  distinguish  it  from 
that  of  adjacent  lowlands.  The  air  resting  on 
mountains  is  less  dense  than  that  of  the  lowlands, 
and  hence  has  fewer  molecules  to  obstruct  the 
entering  sunbeams  by  day,  or  to  stop  the  out- 
ward radiation  at  night.  Therefore  mountain 
air  must  be  cooler ;  and  so  we  find  that  on 
mountains  the  mean,  or  average,  annual  tem- 
perature is  lower.  This  rarity  of  the  air 
causes  the  ground  to  become  hotter  by  day 
and  colder  by  night  than  the  ground  of  the 
plains ;  and  so  the  extremes  of  temperature  are 
greater.  These  extremes  are  injurious  to  vege- 
tation in  the  higher  regions,  and  the  want  of 


The  Uses  of  Mountains.  63 

moisture  still  more  so.  But  mountain-slopes 
up  to  a  certain  height  usually  have  a  moist 
climate ;  that  is,  they  have  more  clouds  and 
rain  than  the  surrounding;  lowlands.  Below 
the  region  of  snow  there  is  generally  a  heavy 
growth  of  forest ;  and  forests  in  their  turn  exer- 
cise an  important  influence,  helping  to  collect 
moisture,  and  in  various  ways  to  prevent  ex- 
tremes either  of  heat  or  cold. 

The  earth  is  divided  into  three  well-marked 
zones  or  belts  of  climate  :  (1)  The  torrid  zone 
within  the  tropics,  where  the  sun  is  vertical  twice 
a  year,  and  days  and  nights  are  nearly  equal ; 
(2)  The  temperate  zones,  where  the  sun's  rays 
come  more  obliquely,  and  so  are  less  powerful, 
and  where  the  length  of  day  and  night  varies 
considerably  ;  and  (3)  The  frigid  zones,  round  each 
of  the  poles,  regions  of  intense  cold,  where  for 
six  months  of  the  year  the  sun  is  never  seen. 
Now,  these  broad  divisions,  so  familiar  to  school 
children,  are  considerably  interfered  with  by  the 
height  of  various  districts  above  the  sea-level, 
or,  as  geographers  say,  by  altitude.  High 
ranges  of  mountains  bring  somewhat  arctic 
conditions  with  them,  even  in  low  latitudes, 
where  one  would  expect  great  heat.     Thus  the 


64  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

climate  of  the  plains  is  very  different  from  that 
of  their  neighbouring  mountain-ranges,  although 
their  latitudes  are  practically  the  same.  Trav- 
ellers in  Switzerland  know  how  hot  it  can  be  in 
the  Rhone  Valley  or  in  the  plain  of  Lombardy, 
and  how  much  cooler  it  is  when  you  get  up 
among  the  glaciers  and  the  snowfields.  Or  to 
take  an  illustration  from  Great  Britain  :  a  hot 
summer  would  be  somewhat  trying  in  Edinburgh, 
Glasgow,  or  even  Inverness,  because  they  lie  low, 
while  among  the  Grampians,  on  Speyside,  or 
Braemar,  it  would  be  very  pleasant. 

Vegetation  follows  climate.  The  sultry  plains 
of  the  Ganges  show  a  luxuriant  tropical  vegeta- 
tion, while  on  the  middle  slopes  of  the  Himalayas 
the  climate  is  temperate,  like  that  of  Europe,  and 
consequently  the  vegetation  resembles  that  of  a 
temperate  region  ;  and  the  highest  parts  of  this 
great  range  are  like  polar  latitudes  in  their  cli- 
mate, and  partly  also  in  their  vegetation. 

The  arctic  character  of  the  climate  of  high 
mountain  regions  shows  itself  in  the  flora  ;  for  on 
the  High  Alps  and  the  Highlands  of  Scotland 
and  Norway,  we  find  no  small  number  of  truly 
arctic  plants  whose  home  is  much  farther  north. 
A  very  long  time  ago,  when  the  climate  of  the 


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The  Uses  of  Mountains.  65 

whole  of  Northern  Europe  was  extremely  severe, 
and  when  great  glaciers  descended  from  the 
mountains  into  the  plains,  so  that  the  aspect  of 
the  country  was  somewhat  similar  to  that  of 
Greenland  at  the  present  day,  arctic  plants  and 
animals  came  down  from  their  northern  home, 
and  flourished  abundantly.  This  was  during  the 
Great  Ice  Age,  which  has  left  behind  unmistak- 
able evidences  which  the  geologist  can  interpret 
as  if  they  were  written  records.  Then  for  some 
reason  the  climate  became  milder,  the  glaciers 
melted  away,  in  Great  Britain  at  least ;  but  these 
arctic  plants  were  left  behind,  and  flourished  still 
on  the  cool  mountains,  though  they  died  out  on 
the  warm  plains  (see  chap,  iv.,  pp.  123-124). 

Mountains  help  to  cause  movement  and  change 
in  the  atmosphere.  Let  us  see  how  this  takes 
place.  Mountains  expose  on  one  side  their 
masses  of  rock  to  the  full  heat  of  the  sun.  Kocks 
are  capable  of  becoming  highly  heated  under  a 
blazing  sun  :  we  have  known  stone  walls,  even  in 
England,  to  be  almost  too  hot  to  touch ;  and 
perhaps  the  reader  may  have  often  noticed  the 
quivering  of  the  hot  air  as  it  rises  from  the  ground 
on  a  summer  day,  especially  over  a  road  or  any 


66  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

piece  of  bare  rocky  ground.  This  quivering  tells 
us  that  the  air  is  highly  heated  by  the  ground 
beneath,  and  is  consequently  rising.  You  know 
how  the  pebbles  look  beneath  a  clear  running 
stream ;  and  the  things  which  we  see  through 
air  in  this  state  all  seem  to  be  similarly  moving 
or  quivering.  It  is  easy  then  to  imagine  how 
masses  of  heated  air  would  rise  up  from  the  side  of 
a  mountain-range  which  faces  the  sun,  —  that  is, 
the  southern  side,  —  while  on  the  other,  or  north- 
ern side  they  cast  a  soft  shadow  for  leagues  over 
the  plains  at  their  feet.  In  this  way  mountains 
divide  a  district  into  two  different  climates,  with 
a  light  warm  air  on  their  southern  slopes,  and 
colder  air  on  the  northern,  and  the  rising  of  the 
warm  air  will  cause  a  certain  amount  of  circula- 
tion and  movement.  Hence  mountains  help  to 
make  currents  in  the  atmosphere,  and  these  cur- 
rents produce  important  consequences. 

When  mountain-ranges  trend  more  or  less  di- 
rectly across  the  direction  of  prevailing  winds, 
they  always  have  a  moist  side  and  a  dry  one.  In 
the  torrid  zone,  where  easterly  winds  prevail,  the 
eastern  slope  is  usually  the  moist  side ;  but  in 
higher  latitudes,  as,  for  example,  in  Europe,  the 
western  side   of  mountain-ranges  receives    the 


The  Uses  of  Mountains.  67 

greatest  amount   of  rainfall,    because  westerly 
winds  prevail  there. 

Mountains  are  barriers  dividing  not  only  one 
nation  from  another,  but  separating  also  various 
tribes  of  plants  and  animals.  It  will  be  readily 
understood  that  with  the  exception  of  birds, 
whose  powers  of  flight  render  them  independent 
of  physical  barriers,  most  animals  find  mountains 
more  impassable  than  men  do.  We  can  make 
roads  and  railways,  but  they  cannot  thus  aid 
their  powers  of  locomotion ;  hence  mountains 
put  limits  to  their  migrations.  Still,  climate 
and  food  supplies  have  a  greater  influence  in  de- 
terming  the  boundaries  of  zoological  provinces 
(see  chapter  iv.). 

Mountains  are  the  backbones  of  continents.  A 
glance  at  a  map  of  the  world  will  show  that 
there  is  evidently  a  close  connection  between 
continents  and  great  mountain-chains.  This 
connection  shows  itself  both  in  the  shapes  and 
general  direction  of  continents.  Thus,  the 
long  continuous  line  of  mountain-chain  which 
extends  from  the  southern  spur  of  the  Andes 
to  the  northern  end  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  — 


68  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

a  distance  of  about  nine  thousand  miles,  —  cor- 
responds with  the  general  trend  of  the  North 
American  continent,  and  forms  the  axis  or 
backbone  of  that  vast  tract  of  land.  It  seems 
as  if  the  sea  on  its  western  side  were  kept  at 
bay  by  this  great  rocky  wall,  while  on  its 
eastern  side  the  rivers  have  formed  new  land. 
A  line  of  mountains  is  often  the  coast  line, 
for  the  sea  cannot  overcome  it  unless  subsi- 
dence takes  place.  The  backbone  of  Asia  and 
Europe  runs  east  and  west,  and  the  continental 
area  of  the  Old  World  follows  the  same  general 
direction. 

These  are  the  chief  uses  of  mountains,  and 
the  facts  which  we  have  brought  forward  will 
serve  to  show  how  indispensable  they  are. 
The  following  eloquent  passage  from  "  Modern 
Painters  "  may  form  a  fitting  close  to  the  present 
chapter  :  — 

"  And  thus  those  desolate  and  threatening  ranges 
which  in  nearly  all  ages  of  the  world  men  have  looked 
upon  with  aversion  or  with  horror,  and  shrunk  back  from 
as  if  they  were  haunted  by  perpetual  images  of  death, 
are  in  reality  sources  of  life  and  happiness,  far  fuller 
and  more  beneficent  than  all  the  bright  fruitfulness  of 
the  plain.     The  valleys  only  feed ;  the  mountains  feed 


The   Uses  of  Mountains.  69 

and  guard  and  strengthen  us.  We  take  our  ideas  of 
fearful ness  and  sublimity  alternately  from  the  moun- 
tains and  the  sea ;  but  we  associate  them  unjustly. 
The  sea-wave,  with  all  its  beneficence,  is  yet  devouring 
and  terrible  ;  but  the  silent  wave  of  the  blue  mountain 
is  lifted  towards  heaven  in  a  stillness  of  perpetual 
mercy ;  and  the  one  surge,  unfathomable  in  its  dark- 
ness, the  other  unshaken  in  its  faithfulness,  for  ever 
bear  the  seal  of  their  appointed  symbolism  :  — ■ 


u 


'  Thy  righteousness  is  like  the  great  mountains, 
Thy  judgements  are  a  great  deep.'  " 


CHAPTER  III. 

SUNSHINE   AND   STORM    ON   THE   MOUNTAINS. 

I  would  entreat  your  company 
To  see  the  wonders  of  the  world. 

Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona. 

"  The  spirit  of  the  hills  is  action,  that  of  the 
lowlands  repose." *  The  plains,  with  their 
peaceful  meadows  and  meandering  streams, 
might  almost  be  said  to  be  asleep ;  but  the 
mountains  are  wide  awake.  They  are  emphati- 
cally scenes  of  violent  or  rapid  action.  The 
wind  blows  more  fiercely  among  the  mountain- 
peaks  than  over  the  plains  below ;  heat  and 
cold  are  more  extreme ;  and  every  process  of 
change  or  decay  seems  quickened. 

Avalanches,  falls  of  rock,  earthquakes,  storms, 
and  floods  exhibit  the  more  terrible  aspects  of 
the  hills.  Yet  they  have  their  gentler  moods : 
witness  the  brightness  of  the  starry  sky  over- 
head, and  its  intense  blue  by  day,  the  won- 
derful sunrises  and  sunsets,  the  lovely  effects 

1  Ruskin,  "  Modern  Painters." 


Sunshine  and  Siorm  on  the  Mountains,     71 

of  light  and  shade,  of  cloud  and  mist,  the  still- 
ness and  silence  of  the  eternal  snows  in  summer, 
and  the  beauty  of  the  Alpine  flower. 

Let  us  see  what  those  who  know  mountains 
best  have  to  say  about  the  wonderful  things 
they  have  seen  there.  To  begin  with  sunset 
and  sunrise.     Professor  Bonney  remarks,  — 

"  Not  the  least  interesting  peculiarity  of  an  Alpine 
sunset  is  the  frequency  with  which  its  most  beautiful 
effects  are  revealed  quite  unexpectedly.  Often  at 
the  close  of  a  rainy  afternoon,  the  clouds,  just  before 
the  sun  goes  down,  break,  roll  up,  sometimes  disperse 
as  if  by  magic,  in  the  glory  of  those  crimson  rays 
that  come  darting  upon  them  and  piercing  every  rift. 
Many  a  time  have  I  watched  the  vapours  around  a 
mountain-peak  curling  lightly  upwards,  and  melting 
away  into  the  sky,  till  at  last  the  unclouded  summit 
glowed  with  flushes  of  orange  and  rose,  ere  it  grew 
pale  and  dead  in  its  shroud  of  fresh-fallen  snow."1 

Here  is  a  description  by  Professor  Tyndall 
of  a  sunset  witnessed  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
the  Weisshorn :  — 

"  As  the  day  approached  its  end,  the  scene  assumed 
the  most  sublime  aspect.     All  the  lower  portions  of 
the  mountains  were  deeply  shaded,  while  the  loftiest 
1  The  Alpine  Regions  of  Switzerland. 


72  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

peaks,  ranged  upon  a  semicircle,  were  fully  exposed 
to  the  sinking  sun.  They  seemed  pyramids  of  solid 
fire  ;  while  here  and  there  long  stretches  of  crimson 
light  drawn  over  the  higher  snowfields  linked  the 
glorified  summits  together.  An  intensely  illuminated 
geranium  flower  seems  to  swim  in  its  own  colour, 
which  apparently  surrounds  the  petals  like  a  layer, 
and  defeats  by  its  lustre  any  attempt  of  the  eye  to 
seize  upon  the  sharp  outline  of  the  leaves.  A  similar 
effect  has  been  observed  upon  the  mountains ;  the 
glory  did  not  seem  to  come  from  them  alone,  but 
seemed  also  effluent  from  the  air  around  them.  This 
gave  them  a  certain  buoyancy  which  suggested  entire 
detachment  from  the  earth.  They  swam  in  splendour 
which  intoxicated  the  soul ;  and  1  will  not  now  repeat 
in  my  moments  of  soberness  the  extravagant  analo- 
gies which  ran  through  my  brain.  As  the  evening 
advanced,  the  eastern  heavens  low  down  assumed  a 
deep  purple  hue,  above  which,  and  blended  with  it 
by  infinitesimal  gradations,  was  a  belt  of  red,  and 
over  this  again  zones  of  orange  and  violet.  I  walked 
round  the  corner  of  the  mountain  at  sunset,  and  found 
the  western  sky  glowing  with  a  more  transparent  crim- 
son than  that  which  overspread  the  east.  The  crown 
of  the  Weisshorn  was  embedded  in  this  magnificent 
light.  After  sunset  the  purple  of  the  east  changed 
to  a  deep  neutral  tint ;  and  against  the  faded  red  which 
spread  above  it,  the  sun-forsaken  mountains  laid  their 
cold  and  ghostly  heads.     The  ruddy  colour  vanished 


Sunshine  and  Storm  on  the  Mountains,     73 

more  and  more ;  the  stars  strengthened  in  lustre,  un- 
til finally  the  moon  and  they  held  undisputed  posses- 
sion of  the  blue-grey  sky."  x 

Marvellous  sunsets  are  to  be  witnessed  from 
the  mountains  of  the  New  World.  The  follow- 
ing is  a  short  and  graphic  description  of  sunset 
glories  on  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains  by  Mr. 
Clarence  King,  whose  name  is  well  known  to 
geologists  :  — 

"  While  I  looked,  the  sun  descended,  shadows 
climbed  the  Sierras,  casting  a  gloom  over  foothill  and 
pine,  until  at  last  only  the  snow  summits,  reflecting 
the  evening  light,  glowed  like  red  lamps  along  the 
mountain-wall  for  hundreds  of  miles.  The  rest  of 
the  Sierra  became  invisible.  The  snow  burned  for  a 
moment  in  the  violet  sky,  and  at  last  went  out." 

These  marvellous  effects  appeal  powerfully 
to  our  sense  of  beauty  and  produce  in  most 
minds  feelings  of  intense  delight  ;  but  they 
also  appeal  to  the  reasoning  faculty  in  man, 
and  an  intelligent  observer  naturally  inquires, 
"  Why  are  these  things  so  ?  How  are  those 
glorious  colours  of  crimson,  orange,  and  yellow 
produced  ? '  A  full  explanation  cannot  be 
attempted   here ;  but  this  much  may   perhaps 

1  Mountaineering  in  1861  (Longman). 


74  The  Story  of  the  Hills, 

be  said  without  tiring  the  patience  of  the 
reader.  White  light,  such  as  sunlight  or  the 
light  from  an  electric  arc,  is  composed  of  all 
the  colours  of  the  rainbow,  —  violet,  indigo, 
blue,  green,  yellow,  orange,  and  red.  A  ray 
of  sunlight  on  passing  through  a  prism  is  split 
up  into  all  these  colours  in  the  above  order, 
and  we  get  them  arranged  in  a  band  which 
is  known  as  the  spectrum.  Thus  it  is  proved 
that  white  light  is  made  up  of  all  colours  (black 
is  not  a  colour,  but  the  absence  of  colour).  Now, 
when  the  sun  is  low  down  in  the  sky,  as  at 
sunset,  only  some  of  these  colour-rays  are  able 
to  pass  through  the  atmosphere  and  so  to  reach 
our  eyes,  while  others  are  stopped  in  passing 
through  very  many  miles  of  atmosphere  (as 
they  must  obviously  do  when  the  sun  is  low). 
Those  which  are  stopped  are  the  blue  rays 
and  others  allied  to  blue,  such  as  purple  and 
green  ;  but  the  red  and  yellow  rays  are  able  to 
pass  on  till  they  come  to  us.  Hence  red,  yellow, 
and  orange  are  the  prevailing  sunset  tints. 

What,  then,  becomes  of  the  missing  blue  rays  ? 
They  are  caught  by  the  myriads  of  little  floating 
particles  in  the  air,  and  reflected  away  from  us. 
That  is  why  we  do  not  see  them ;  their  course 

I 


Sunshine  and  Storm  on  the  Mountains.     75 

is  turned  back,  just  as  waves  breaking  against  a 
stone  sea-wall  are  turned  back  or  reflected.  A 
person  situated  "behind  such  a  wall  will  not  see  the 
waves  which  break  against  it ;  but  suppose  a  very 
big  wave  came  :  it  would  come  right  over,  and 
then  we  should  soon  become  aware  of  its  presence. 
So  it  is  with  the  little  waves  of  light :  some 
are  stopped  and  turned  back  as  they  break 
against  the  myriads  of  little  dust  particles  and 
the  still  more  numerous  particles  of  mist  always 
floating  in  the  air ;  while  others,  which  are  larger, 
break  over  them  and  travel  on  undisturbed  until 
they  reach  our  eyes.  Now,  the  larger  waves  of 
light  are  the  red  waves,  while  the  smaller  ones 
are  the  blue  waves  ;  hence  there  is  no  difficulty 
in  understanding  why  the  red  waves  (or  vibra- 
tions) are  seen  at  sunset  and  sunrise,  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  the  blue  waves.  But  it  must  be  borne 
in  mind  that  light-waves  are  of  infinitesimal 
smallness,  thousands  and  thousands  of  them  go- 
ing to  make  up  an  inch.  Sound  also  travels  in 
waves,  and  the  phenomena  of  sound  serve  to 
illustrate  those  of  light ;  but  sound-waves  are 
very  much  larger. 

The  reason  why  the  sky  overhead  appears  blue 
is  that  we  see  the  blue  rays  reflected  down  to  the 


76  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

earth  from  myriads  of  tiny  dust  and  water 
particles,  while  the  red  rays  pass  on  over  our 
heads,  which  is  just  the  reverse  of  what  happens 
at  sunset. 

On  the  southern  slopes  of  the  Alps  the  blues 
of  the  sky  are  generally  very  different  from  those 
on  the  northern  side  ;  and  this  is  probably  due  to 
the  greater  quantity  of  water-vapour  in  the  air, 
for  the  moist  winds  come  from  the  south.  Sun- 
rises in  the  Alps  are  quite  as  glorious  to  behold 
as  sunsets  ;  but  comparatively  few  people  rise 
early  enough  to  see  them.  Speaking  generally, 
it  may  be  said  that  in  Alpine  sunrises  the  prevail- 
ing colours  are  orange  and  gold,  in  sunsets 
crimson  or  violet-pink.  After  a  cool  night  the 
atmospheric  conditions  will  obviously  be  different 
from  those  which  exist  after  a  warm  day,  and 
more  water-vapour  will  have  been  condensed  into 
mist  or  cloud.  Hence  we  should  expect  a  some- 
what different  effect. 

The  snowfields  on  high  ranges  of  mountains 
are  of  a  dazzling  whiteness  ;  and  their  bright 
glare  is  so  great  as  to  distress  the  eyes  of  those 
who  walk  over  them  without  blue  glasses,  and 
even  to  cause  inflammation.  At  these  heights 
the  traveller  is  not  only  exposed  to  the  direct 


Sunshine  and  Storm  on  the  Mountains.     77 

rays  of  the  sun,  untempered  save  for  a  thin  veil 
of  rarefied  air,  but  also  to  an  intense  glare  pro- 
duced by  the  little  snow-crystals  which  scatter 
around  the  beams  of  light  falling  upon  them. 
Scientific  men,  who  have  studied  these  matters, 
say  that  the  scorching  of  the  skin  and  "  sun- 
burning  "  experienced  by  Alpine  travellers  is 
not  caused,  as  might  be  supposed,  by  the  heat 
of  the  sun,  but  by  the  rays  of  light  darting  and 
flashing  on  all  sides  from  myriads  of  tiny  snow- 
crystals. 

Occasionally  a  soft  lambent  glow  has  been  ob- 
served on  snowfields  at  night.  This  is  a  very 
curious  phenomenon,  to  which  the  name  of 
"  phosphorescence "  has,  rightly  or  wrongly, 
been  given.  A  pale  light  may  often  be  seen  on 
the  sea  during  a  summer  night,  when  the  water 
is  disturbed  in  any  way  ;  and  if  one  is  rowing  in 
a  boat,  the  oars  seem  glowing  with  a  faint  and 
beautiful  light.  It  is  well  known  that  this  is 
caused  by  myriads  of  little  light-producing  ani- 
malcules in  the  sea-water.  But  we  can  hardly 
suppose  that  the  glow  above  referred  to  is  pro- 
duced by  a  similar  cause.  One  observer  says  the 
glow  is  "something  like  that  produced  by  the 
flame  of  naphtha;"  and  he  goes  on  to  say  that  at 


78  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

every  step  "  an  illuminated  circle  or  nimbus  about 
two  inches  in  breadth  surrounded  our  feet,  and 
we  seemed  to  be  ploughing  our  way  through 
fields  of  light,  and  raising  clods  of  it,  if  I  may 
be  allowed  the  expression,  in  our  progress. "  An- 
other observer,  also  an  Alpine  traveller,  says  that 
at  almost  every  footstep  the  snowy  particles, 
which  his  companion  in  front  lifted  with  his 
feet  from  the  freshly  fallen  snow,  fell  in  little 
luminous  showers.  The  exact  cause  which  pro- 
duces this  strange  effect  at  night  has  not  been 
ascertained. 

There  is  another  curious  phenomenon  often 
seen  just  before  sunset  on  a  mountain  in  Hungary. 
It  is  known  as  "  The  Spectre  of  the  Brocken." 
The  Brocken  is  the  highest  summit  of  the  Hartz 
Mountains.  As  you  step  out  upon  the  plateau 
upon  the  top  of  the  hill,  your  shadow,  grim  and 
gigantic,  is  apparently  flung  right  out  against  the 
eastern  sky,  where  it  flits  from  place  to  place, 
following  your  every  movement.  The  explana- 
tion is  simply  this:  to  the  east  of  the  Hartz 
Mountains  there  is  always  a  very  dense  and  hazy 
atmosphere,  so  dense  that  it  presents  a  surface 
capable  of  receiving  the  impression  of  a  shadow, 
and  of  retaining  it,  as  a  wall  does.     The  shadows 


Sunshine  and  Storm  on  the  Mountains.     79 

are  really  close  at  hand,  not  a  long  way  off,  as 
might  at  first  sight  be  supposed.  If  very  far 
away,  they  would  be  too  faint  to  be  visible. 

In  all  mountainous  regions  the  permanent 
habitations  of  men  cease  at  a  limit  far  below  the 
most  elevated  points  reached  by  the  mountain- 
climber.  St.  Veran  and  Gargl,  the  highest  vil- 
lages of  France  and  Germany,  are  situated  at 
the  respective  heights  of  6,591  and  6,197  feet; 
but  the  Hospice  of  St.  Bernard,  in  Switzerland, 
built  centuries  ago  to  shelter  travellers  when  be- 
numbed with  the  cold,  is  much  more  elevated, 
its  height  being  8,110  feet  above  sea-level.  The 
most  elevated  cluster  of  houses  in  the  world  is 
the  convent  of  Hanle,  inhabited  by  twenty  Thi- 
betan priests  ;  its  height  is  14,976  feet.  None  of 
the  villages  of  the  Andes,  except  perhaps  that  of 
Santa  Anna,  in  Bolivia,  have  been  built  at  so 
great  a  height. 

Travellers  who  venture  to  ascend  lofty  moun- 
tains not  only  have  to  suffer  all  the  rigours  of 
cold  and  run  the  risk  of  being  frozen  on  their 
route,  but  they  may  also  experience  painful  sen- 
sations owing  to  the  rarefaction  of  the  air.  It 
would  naturally  be  supposed  that  at  an  elevation 


80  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 


.\ 


at  which  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  is  re- 
duced to  one  half,  or  even  to  one  fourth  that  of 
the  plains  below,  a  certain  uneasiness  should  be 
caused  by  the  change,  the  more  so  since  other 
conditions,  such  as  warmth  and  moisture,  are 
different.  Undaunted  climbers,  like  Professor 
Tyndall,  who  have  never  felt  the  effect  of  this 
"  mountain-sickness '  (mal  de  montagne),  deny 
that  the  sensations  proceed  from  anything  else 
than  mere  fatigue.  In  the  Himalayas,  the  trav- 
eller does  not  begin  to  suffer  from  the  attacks  of 
this  ailment  until  he  has  reached  a  height  of 
16,500  feet ;  while  on  the  Andes  a  large  num- 
ber of  persons  are  affected  by  it  at  an  altitude  of 
10,700  feet.  In  the  South  American  mountains, 
the  symptoms  are  much  more  serious  :  to  the  fa- 
tigue, head-ache,  and  want  of  breath  are  added 
giddiness,  sometimes  fainting-fits,  and  bleeding 
from  lips,  gums,  and  eyelids.  The  aeronaut,  how- 
ever, who  is  spared  all  the  fatigue  of  climbing, 
rarely  suffers  any  inconvenience  except  from 
cold,  at  such  elevations.  But  on  rising  to  greater 
heights,  30,000  or  40,000  feet,  the  malady 
shows  itself ;  and  if  the  balloon  continued  to 
rise,  the  aerial  voyager  would  infallibly  perish. 
Professor  Bonney  says  :  — 


Sunshine  and  Storm  on  the  Mountains.     81 

"  I  have  occasionally  seen  persons  singularly  af- 
fected on  high  mountains ;  and  as  the  barometer 
stands  at  about  sixteen  inches  on  Mont  Blanc,  and 
at  thirty  at  sea-level,  one  would  expect  this  great 
difference  to  be  felt.  Still,  I  do  not  think  it  easy 
to  separate  the  inconveniences  due  to  atmosphere 
from  those  caused  by  unwonted  fatigue,  and  am 
inclined  to  attribute  most  of  them  to  the  latter." 

But  the   fact  that  the   aeronaut  suffers   seems 
conclusive. 

The  violent  storms  which  break  upon  moun- 
tain districts  often  cause  floods  of  considerable 
magnitude,  such  as  may  be  compared  with  the 
memorable  bursting  of  the  Holmfirth  reservoir. 
Hardly  a  year  passes  without  considerable  dam- 
age being  done  :  bridges  are  swept  away ;  roads 
are  buried  under  torrents  of  mud,  and  fields 
overwhelmed  with  debris.  In  August  of  the 
year  1860  a  severe  storm  was  witnessed  by 
visitors  staying  at  Zermatt.  It  began  with  a 
thunder-storm ;  and  rain  fell  for  about  thirty-six 
hours,  after  which,  as  may  be  supposed,  the  tor- 
rents were  swollen  far  bevond  their  usual  size. 
Lower  down   in   the  valleys   much    harm   was 

done,   but    there   one   bridge   only   was    swept 

6 


82  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

away.  It  was,  however,  an  awful  sight  to 
see  the  Visp  roaring  under  one  of  the  bridges 
that  remained,  and  to  hear  the  heavy  thuds 
of  the  boulders  that  were  being  hurried  on 
and  dashed  against  one  another  by  the  torrent. 
In  September,  1556,  the  town  of  Locarno,  in 
the  Canton  Ticino,  was  visited  by  a  destructive 
storm  and  flood.  The  day  began  by  several 
shocks  of  earthquake,  followed,  about  five 
o'clock,  by  a  terrific  gale  from  the  south. 
Part  of  the  old  castle  was  blown  down ;  the 
doors  of  St.  Victor's  Church  were  burst  open 
by  a  blast  while  the  priest  was  at  the  altar; 
and  everything  within  was  overturned.  At 
midday  the  clouds  were  so  thick  that  it  was 
almost  as  dark  as  night.  A  violent  thunder- 
storm and  torrents  of  rain  followed,  lasting 
from  two  to  six  o'clock  in  the  evening.  The 
rivulets  all  became  torrents ;  the  stream  flowing 
through  the  town  was  so  choked  by  uprooted 
trees  and  rocks  that  its  water  flooded  the 
streets  and  almost  buried  them  under  mud 
and  gravel.  Such  a  sight  as  this  gives  one  a 
powerful  impression  of  the  geological  work  of 
streams  when  greatly  swollen ;  for  all  this 
debris   must    have   been   brought   down    from 


Sunshine  and  Storm  on  the  Mountains.     83 

the  surrounding  mountains.  Many  lives  were 
lost  by  this  calamity,  and  a  great  deal  of  prop- 
erty was  destroyed.  Late  in  the  year,  during 
unsettled  weather,  the  traveller  often  encoun- 
ters on  Alpine  passes  a  sudden  storm  of  snow, 
accompanied  by  violent  gusts  of  wind,  which 
fill  the  air  with  drifted  flakes ;  so  that  becom- 
ing bewildered,  he  loses  his  way,  and  at  last 
sinks  down  benumbed  witli  cold  and  dies. 
Many  a  frequented  pass  in  Switzerland  has 
been  the  scene  of  death  from  this  cause.  Ex- 
hausted with  fatigue,  and  overcome  with  cold, 
the  traveller  sinks  down  by  the  wayside,  and 
the  guides,  after  having  in  vain  endeavoured  to 
urge  him  on,  are  compelled,  in  order  to  save 
their  own  lives,  to  leave  him  to  his  fate  and 
press  forward.  The  name  "  Tourmente  "  is  given 
to  these    storms. 

On  the  tops  of  the  highest  mountains,  even  in 
very  fine  weather,  the  wind  often  blows  with 
great  force ;  and  the  north  wind,  supposed  to  be 
the  mountaineer's  best  friend,  is  sometimes  his 
enemy.  It  not  unfrequently  happens  that  a 
gale  renders  the  passage  of  some  exposed  slope 
or  ridge  too  dangerous,  or  the  intense  cold  pro- 
duces frost-bites,  so  that  an  expedition  has  to  be 


84  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

abandoned  when  success  is  within  reach,  which 
naturally  is  very  annoying.  Professor  Bonney, 
speaking  of  such  a  gale  which  he  experienced  in 
1864,  says,  — 

"  The  cold  was  something  horrible ;  the  wind 
seemed  to  blow  not  round,  but  through  me,  freez- 
ing my  very  marrow,  and  making  my  teeth  chatter 
like  castanets  ;  and  if  I  stopped  for  a  moment,  I  shook 
as  if  in  an  ague-fit.  It  whisked  up  the  small  spiculae  of 
frozen  snow,  and  dashed  them  against  my  face  with 
such  violence  that  it  was  hardly  possible  to  look  to 
windward.  Thin  sheets  of  ice  as  large  as  my  hand 
were  whirled  along  the  surface  of  the  glacier  like 
paper.  .  .  .  When  these  gales  are  raging,  the  drifted 
snow  is  blown  far  to  leeward  of  the  peaks  in  long 
streamers  like  delicate  cirrus-clouds ;  and  on  such 
occasions  the  mountain  is  said  by  the  guides  fumer  sa 
pipe  (to  smoke  his  pipe).  This  Mont  Blanc  was  do- 
ing to  some  purpose  the  day  that  we  were  upon  him." 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  these  gales  are  often 
confined  to  the  crests  of  the  mountains,  so  that 
the  wind  may  be  raging  among  the  peaks  while 
a  few  hundred  feet  lower  down  there  is  compara- 
tive calm. 

The  chief  of  the  prevailing  winds  in  the  Alps 
is   the    Fohn.      This    is    a  hot  blast  from  the 


Sunshine  and  Storm  on  the  Mountains.     85 

south  which  probably  comes  from  the  African 
deserts.  On  its  approach  the  air  becomes 
close  and  stifling,  the  sky,  at  first  of  unusual 
clearness,  gradually  thickens  to  a  muddy  and 
murky  hue,  animals  become  restless  and  dis- 
quieted by  the  unnatural  dryness  of  the  hot 
blast  which  now  comes  sweeping  over  the  hills. 
In  some  villages,  it  is  said,  all  the  fires  are 
extinguished  when  this  wind  begins  to  blow, 
for  fear  lest  some  chance  spark  should  fall  on 
the  dry  wooden  roofs  and  set  the  whole  place 
in  a  blaze.  Still  the  Fohn  is  not  altogether 
an  "  ill  wind  that  blows  nobody  any  good," 
for  under  its  warm  touch  the  winter  snows 
melt  away  with  marvellous  rapidity.  In  the 
valley  of  Grindelwald  it  causes  a  snow-bed 
two  feet  thick  to  disappear  in  about  a  couple 
of  hours,  and  produces  in  twenty-four  hours  a 
greater  effect  than  the  sun  does  in  fifteen  days. 
There  is  a  Swiss  proverb  which  rather  pro- 
fanely says :  "  If  the  Fohn  does  not  blow,  the 
golden  sun  and  the  good  God  can  do  nothing 
with  the  snow." 

In  summer-time,  however,  the  south  wind 
is  never  welcome,  for  the  vapour  which  it 
brings  from  the  Italian  plains  is  condensed  by 


86  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

the  snows  of    the  Alps,    and  streams  down  in 
torrents  of  rain. 

A  thunder-storm  is  always  a  grand  spectacle. 
Among  mountains  such  storms  are  more  fre- 
quent than  on  the  plains,  and  also,  as  might 
be  expected,  far  more  magnificent,  especially 
at  night.  Flashes,  or  rather  sheets,  of  unutter- 
able brilliancy  light  up  the  sky ;  distant  chains 
of  mountains  are  revealed  for  a  moment,  only 
to  be  instantly  eclipsed  by  the  pall  of  night. 
Says  Professor  Bonney,  — 

"  No  words  can  adequately  express  the  awful  gran- 
deur of  these  tempests  when  they  burst  among  the 
mountains.  I  have  often  been  out  in  them,  —  in  fact, 
far  more  frequently  than  was  pleasant ;  but  perhaps 
the  grandest  of  all  was  one  that  welcomed  me  for  the 
first  time  to  Chamouni.  As  we  entered  the  valley, 
and  caught  sight  of  the  white  pinnacles  of  the  glacier 
des  JBosso?is,  sl  dark  cloud  came  rolling  up  rapidly  from 
the  west.  Beneath  it,  just  where  two  tall  peaks  tow- 
ered up,  the  sky  glowed  like  a  sheet  of  red-hot  copper, 
and  a  lurid  mist  spread  over  the  neighbouring  hills, 
wrapping  them,  as  it  seemed,  in  a  robe  of  flame.  On- 
ward rolled  the  cloud ;  the  lightning  began  to  play ; 
down  the  valley  rushed  a  squall  of  wind,  driving  the 
dust  high  in  air  before  it,  and  followed  by  a  torrent  of 


Sunshine  and  Storm  on  the  Mountains.     87 

rain.  Flash  succeeded  flash  almost  incessantly,  —  now 
darting  from  cloud  to  cloud  ;  now  dividing  itself  into  a 
number  of  separate  streaks  of  fire,  and  dancing  all 
over  the  sky  ;  now  streaming  down  upon  the  crags,  and 
at  times  even  leaping  up  from  some  lofty  peak  into  the 
air.  The  colours  were  often  most  beautiful,  and  bright 
beyond  description." 

The  mountain  traveller,  when  caught  in  a 
thunder-storm,  undergoes  a  strange  experience, 
not  unattended  with  clanger.  One  observer 1  thus 
describes  his  sensations  :  — 

"  A  loud  peal  of  thunder  was  heard ;  and  shortly 
after  I  observed  that  a  strange  singing  sound,  like  that 
of  a  kettle,  was  issuing  from  my  alpenstock.  We 
halted,  and  finding  that  all  the  axes  and  stocks  emitted 
the  same  sound,  stuck  them  into  the  snow.  The 
guide  from  the  hotel  now  pulled  off  his  cap,  shouting 
that  his  head  burned ;  and  his  hair  was  seen  to  have  a 
similar  appearance  to  that  which  it  would  have  pre- 
sented had  he  been  on  an  insulated  stool  under  a 
powerful  electrical  machine.  We  all  of  us  experienced 
the  sensation  of  pricking  and  burning  in  some  part  of 
the  body,  more  especially  in  the  head  and  face,  my  hair 
also  standing  on  end  in  an  uncomfortable  but  very 
amusing  manner.  The  snow  gave  out  a  hissing  sound, 
as  though  a  heavy  shower  of  hail  were  falling  ;  the  veil 
on  the  wide-awake  of  one  of  the  party  stood  upright  in 

1  Mr.  R.  S.  Watson,  in  "The  Alpine  Journal,"  vol.  i.,p.  143. 


88  The  Story  of  the  Hills, 

the  air ;  and  on  waving  our  hands,  the  singing  sound 
issued  loudly  from  the  fingers.  Whenever  a  peal  of 
thunder  was  heard,  the  phenomenon  ceased,  to  be  re- 
sumed before  its  echoes  died  away.  At  these  times 
we  felt  shocks,  more  or  less  violent,  in  those  portions 
of  the  body  which  were  most  affected.  By  one  of 
these  ^shocks  my  right  arm  was  paralysed  so  completely 
that  I  could  neither  use  nor  raise  it  for  several  min- 
utes, nor  indeed  until  it  had  been  severely  rubbed ;  and 
I  suffered  much  pain  in  it  at  the  shoulder-joint  for 
some  hours." 

The  successive  layers  of  snow  which  fall  on 
the  mountains  do  not  remain  there  for  ever. 
Unless  got  rid  of  in  some  way  their  thickness 
would  mount  up  to  an  enormous  extent.  It  is 
reckoned  that  on  the  Alps  the  average  yearly 
fall  of  snow  is  thirty-three  feet.  In  the  course 
of  a  century,  therefore,  the  height  of  these  moun- 
tains would  be  increased  by  3,300  feet,  which 
we  know  is  not  the  case.  Various  causes  pre- 
vent its  accumulating,  among  which  we  may 
mention  the  powerful  influence  of  the  sun's  rays, 
the  evaporation  promoted  by  the  atmosphere, 
the  thawing  influence  of  rain  and  mist,  ava- 
lanches, and  lastly,  which  is  perhaps  the  most 
important,  the  fact  that  the  snow  composing  the 
snowfields,  as  they  are  called,  of  the  high  regions 


Sunshine  and  Storm  on  the  Mountains.     89 

slowly  creeps  down  towards  the  valleys,  where 
they  move  along  as  glaciers,  the  ends  of  which 
are  gradually  melted  away  by  the  warm  air  sur- 
rounding them,  and  thus  the  muddy  glacier- 
streams  are  originated.  Few  perils  are  more 
dreaded  by  the  inhabitant  of  the  Alps  than 
those  of  the  avalanches.  The  particular  way  in 
which  each  avalanche  descends  is  varied  accord- 
ing to  the  shape  of  the  mountain,  the  condition 
of  the  snow,  and  the  time  of  the  year.  Hence 
there  are  three  different  kinds  of  avalanche. 
First,  there  is  the  ice-avalanche.  The  smaller 
glaciers,  which,  in  the  Alps,  cling  to  the  upper 
slopes  of  the  higher  mountains,  frequently  ter- 
minate abruptly  on  the  edge  of  some  precipice. 
Thus  the  ice,  urged  on  by  the  pressure  of  the 
masses  above  it,  moves  forward  until  it  plunges 
over  and  falls  into  the  abyss  below.  Large  por- 
tions break  off ;  and  these,  as  they  bound  down 
the  cliffs,  are  dashed  into  countless  pieces,  which 
leap  from  crag  to  crag  high  into  the  air  :  now 
the  falling  mass,  like  some  swollen  torrent, 
dashes  with  sullen  roar  through  a  gully,  now, 
emerging,  crashes  over  a  precipice,  or  spreads 
itself  out  like  a  fan,  as  it  hisses  down  a  snow- 
slope.     These  avalanches  expend  their  force  in 


9 

90  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

the  higher  regions,  and  are  harmless,  unless 
any  one  happens  to  be  crossing  their  track  at  the 
time  ;  but  accidents  from  this  source  can  gener- 
ally be  avoided.  In  the  distance  the  avalanches 
look  like  waterfalls  of  the  purest  foam,  but  when 
approached  are  found  to  be  composed  of  frag- 
ments of  ice  of  every  size,  from  one,  two,  or 
more  cubic  yards  clown  to  tiny  little  balls.  In 
spring  and  summer,  when  the  white  layers, 
softened  by  the  heat,  are  falling  away  every 
hour  from  the  lofty  summits  of  the  Alps,  the 
pedestrian,  taking  up  a  position  on  some  adjacent 
headland,  may  watch  these  sudden  cataracts 
dashing  down  into  the  gorges  from  the  heights 
of  the  shining  peaks.  Year  after  year  travellers 
seated  at  their  ease  on  the  grassy  banks  of  the 
Wengern  Alp  have  watched  with  pleasure  the 
avalanches  rolling  to  the  base  of  the  silvery 
pyramid  of  the  Jungfrau.  First,  the  mass  of  ice 
is  seen  to  plunge  forth  like  a  cataract,  and  lose 
itself  in  the  lower  parts  of  the  mountain ; 
whirlwinds  of  powdered  snow,  like  clouds  of 
bright  smoke,  rise  far  and  wide  into  the  air  ; 
and  then,  when  the  cloud  has  passed  away,  and 
the  region  has  again  assumed  its  solemn  calm, 
the  thunder  of  the  avalanche  is  suddenly  heard 


Sunshine  and  Storm  on  the  Mountains.     91 

reverberating  in  deep  echoes  in  the  mountain 
gorges,  as  if  it  were  the  voice  of  the  mountain 
itself. 

The  other  two  kinds  of  avalanche  are  com- 
posed  of  snow.  The  dust-avalanche  usually 
falls  in  winter-time,  when  the  mountains  are 
covered  deep  with  fresh-fallen  snow.  Such 
masses  of  snow,  not  yet  compacted  into  ice, 
rest  insecurely  upon  the  icy  slopes,  and  hang 
in  festoons  and  curtains  over  the  peaks,  or 
lie  on  smooth  banks  of  pasture,  until  some 
accident,  such  as  a  gust  of  wind,  breaks  the 
spell,  and  the  whole  mass  slides  down  into 
the  valley  below.  These  avalanches  are  ac- 
companied by  fearful  blasts  of  wind  which 
work  dire  destruction.  Almost  the  whole  vil- 
lage of  Leukerbad  was  destroyed  by  one  of 
these  on  the  14th  of  January,  1719,  and  fifty- 
five  persons  perished.  In  1749,  more  than 
one  hundred  persons  were  killed  in  the  village 
of  Ruaras  (Grisons),  which  during  the  night 
was  overwhelmed  by  an  avalanche.  So  si- 
lently were  some  of  the  houses  buried  that 
the  inhabitants,  on  waking  in  the  morning, 
could  not  conceive  why  the  day  did  not  dawn. 
It  is   said,  though   it   seems   almost  incredible, 


92  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

that  in  the  time  of  the  Suabian  War,  in  the 
year  1498,  one  of  these  avalanches  swept  four 
hundred  soldiers  over  a  cliff,  and  they  all 
escaped  without  serious  injury. 

The  army  of  General  Macdonald,  in  his 
celebrated  passage  of  the  Spliigen  in  Decem- 
ber, 1800,  suffered  severely  from  these  dust- 
avalanches.  A  troup  of  horse  was  completely 
cut  through  while  on  the  march  ;  and  thirty 
dragoons  were  precipitated  into  a  gulf  below 
the  road,  where  they  all  perished.  And  again, 
some  days  afterwards,  in  descending  a  gorge, 
the  columns  were  repeatedly  severed  by  ava- 
lanches ;  and  more  than  one  hundred  soldiers, 
with  a  number  of  horses  and  mules,  were  lost. 
On  one  of  these  occasions  the  drummer  of  a 
regiment  was  carried  away;  and  it  is  said 
that  they  heard  him  beating  his  drum  in  the 
gorge  below,  in  the  hope  that  his  comrades 
would  come  to  his  rescue.  Help,  however, 
was  out  of  the  question.  The  sounds  grad- 
ually became  fainter,  and  the  poor  lad  must 
have  perished  in  the  cold. 

The  ground-avalanches  are  different  from 
those  just  described,  consisting  of  dense  and 
almost  solid  masses  of  snow  which  have  lain 


Sunshine  and  Storm  on  the  Mountains.     93 

for  a  long  time  exposed  to  atmospheric  influ- 
ences. They  are  much  heavier  than  the  dust- 
avalanches,  and  therefore  more  destructive ;  so 
that  the  inhabitants  take  great  pains  to  pro- 
tect themselves  from  this  source  of  danger. 
Thickly  planted  trees  are  the  best  protection 
against  avalanches  of  every  kind.  Snow  which 
has  fallen  in  a  wood  cannot  very  well  shift 
its  place ;  and  when  masses  of  snow  descend 
from  the  slopes  above,  they  are  unable  to  break 
through  so  strong  a  barrier.  Small  shrubs,  such 
as  rhododendrons,  or  even  heaths  and  meadow- 
grass,  are  often  sufficient  to  prevent  the  slip- 
ping of  the  snow ;  and  therefore  it  is  very  im- 
prudent not  to  allow  them  to  grow  freely  on 
mountain-slopes.  But  it  is  still  more  danger- 
ous to  cut  down  protecting  forests,  or  even  to 
do  so  partly.  This  was  illustrated  by  the  case 
of  a  mountain  in  the  Pyrenees,  in  the  lofty 
valley  of  Neste ;  after  it  had  been  partially 
cleared  of  trees,  a  tremendous  avalanche  fell 
down  in  1846,  and  in  its  fall  swept  away 
more  than  fifteen  thousand  fir-trees. 

The  Swiss  records  tell  us  what  a  terrible 
scourge  the  avalanche  can  be  in  villages  which 
in  summer-time  appear  such  calm  and  happy 


94  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

scenes  of  pastoral  life.  M.  Joanne,  in  the  in- 
troduction to  his  valuable  "  Itineraire  de  la 
Suisse " l  gives  a  list  of  twelve  of  the  most 
destructive  avalanches  that  have  fallen  in 
Switzerland.  In  old  days  they  seem  to  have 
been  as  great  a  source  of  danger  as  in  mod- 
ern times.  Thus  we  find  that  in  the  year 
1500,  a  caravan  of  six  hundred  persons  was 
swept  away  in  crossing  the  Great  St.  Bernard ; 
three  hundred  were  buried  under  an  ava- 
lanche which  fell  from  Monte  Cassedra  (Ticino). 
Another  one  in  the  year  1720,  at  Oberges- 
telen,  in  the  Rhone  Valley,  destroyed  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  cottages,  four  hundred  head 
of  cattle,  and  eighty-eight  persons.  The  bodies 
were  buried  in  a  large  pit  in  the  village  ceme- 
tery, on  the  wall  of  which  was  engraved  the 
following  pathetic  inscription  :  "  0  God,  what 
sorrow  !  —  eighty-eight  in  a  single  grave  !  ' 
("Gott,  welche  Trailer!  —  acht  und  achtzig 
in  einem  Grab  !  ") 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  animals  have  a 
wonderful  power  of  anticipating  coining  catas- 
trophes. When  human  beings  are  unaware  of 
danger,  they  are  often  warned  by  the  behaviour 

1  Conservateur  Suisse,  xlvi.  p.  478,  vol.  xii. 


Sunshine  and  Storm  on  the  Mountains.     95 

of  animals.  Country  people  sometimes  say 
that  they  can  tell  from  the  birds  when  the 
weather  is  about  to  change ;  and  there  is  little 
doubt  but  that  sea-gulls  come  inland  before 
rough,  stormy  weather.  But  in  the  case  of 
earthquakes  the  behaviour  of  birds,  beasts,  and 
even  fishes  is  very  striking.  It  is  said  that 
before  an  earthquake  rats,  mice,  moles,  lizards, 
and  serpents  frequently  come  out  of  their 
holes,  and  hasten  hither  and  thither  as  if 
smitten  with  terror.  At  Naples,  it  is  said  that 
the  ants  quitted  their  underground  passages 
some  hours  before  the  earthquake  of  July  26, 
1805 ;  that  grasshoppers  crossed  the  town  in 
order  to  reach  the  coast ;  and  that  the  fish  ap- 
proached the  shore  in  shoals.  Avalanches,  it 
is  well  known,  produce  tremors  similar  to  those 
due  to  slight  earthquake  shocks ;  and  there  are 
many  stories  in  Switzerland  of  the  behaviour 
of  animals  just  before  the  catastrophe  takes 
place.  Berlepsch  relates  that  a  pack-horse  on 
the  Scaletta  Pass,  which  was  always  most 
steady,  became  restive  when  an  avalanche  was 
coming ;  so  that  he  was  valuable  to  his 
owners  in  bad  weather.  One  day,  when  near 
the  summit  of  the  pass,  he  suddenly  stopped. 


96  The  Story  of  the  Hills, 

They  foolishly  took  no  notice  of  his  warning 
this  time ;  but  he  presently  darted  off  at  full 
speed.  In  a  few  seconds  the  avalanche  came 
and  buried  the  whole  party. 

If  these  stories  can  be  relied  upon,  it  would 
seem  that  animals  are  either  more  sensitive  to 
very  slight  tremors  of  the  earth,  or  else  that 
they  are  more  on  the  lookout  than  human 
beings.  Perhaps  North  American  Indians  have 
learned  from  animals  in  this  respect,  for  they 
can  tell  of  a  coming  enemy  on  the  march 
by  putting  their  ears  to  the  ground  and 
listening. 

But  there  are  worse  dangers  in  the  mountains 
than  falls  of  snow  and  ice,  for  sometimes  masses 
of  rock  come  hurtling  down,  or  worse  still,  the 
whole  side  of  a  mountain  gives  way  and  spreads 
ruin  far  and  wide.  Perpendicular  or  overhang- 
ing rocks,  which  seem  securely  fastened,  suddenly 
become  detached  and  rush  headlong  down  the 
mountain-side.  In  their  rapid  fall,  they  raise  a 
cloud  of  dust  like  the  ashes  vomited  forth  by  a 
volcano ;  a  horrible  darkness  is  spread  over  a 
once  pleasant  valley  ;  and  the  unfortunate  in- 
habitants, unable  to  see  what  is  taking  place,  are 
only  aware  of  the  trembling  of  the  ground,  and 


Sunshine  and  Storm  on  the  Mountains.     97 

the  crashing  din  of  the  rocks  as  they  strike 
together  and  shatter  one  another  in  pieces. 
When  the  cloud  of  dust  is  cleared  away,  nothing 
but  heaps  of  stones  and  rubbish  are  to  be  seen 
where  pastures  once  grew,  or  the  peasant 
ploughed  his  acres  in  peace.  The  stream  flow- 
ing down  the  valley  is  obstructed  in  its  course, 
and  changed  into  a  muddy  lake  ;  the  rampart  of 
rocks  from  which  some  debris  still  comes  crum- 
bling down  has  lost  its  old  form  ;  the  sharpened 
edges  point  out  the  denuded  cliff  from  which  a 
large  part  of  the  mountain  has  broken  away.  In 
the  Pyrenees,  Alps,  and  other  important  ranges 
there  are  but  few  valleys  where  one  cannot  see 
the  confused  heaps  of  fallen  rocks. 

Many  of  these  catastrophes,  known  as  the 
"  Bergfall,"  have  been  recorded  ;  and  the  rec- 
ords tell  of  the  fearful  havoc  and  destruction  to 
life  and  property  due  to  this  cause.  In  Italy 
the  ancient  Roman  town  of  Velleja  was  buried, 
about  the  fourth  century,  by  the  downfall  of  the 
mountain  of  Rovinazzo  ;  and  the  large  quantity 
of  bones  and  coins  that  have  been  found  proves 
that  the  fall  was  so  sudden  that  the  inhabitants 
had  no  time  to  escape. 

Taurentum.  another  Roman  town,  situated,  it 


98  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

is  said,  on  the  banks  of  Lake  Geneva,  at  the 
base  of  one  of  the  spurs  of  the  Dent  d'Oche,  was 
completely  crushed  in  a.  d.  563  by  a  downfall 
of  rocks.  The  sloping  heap  of  debris  thus 
formed  may  still  be  seen  advancing  like  a  head- 
land into  the  waters  of  the  lake.  A  terrible 
flood-wave,  produced  by  the  deluge  of  stones, 
reached  the  opposite  shores  of  the  lake  and 
swept  away  all  the  inhabitants.  Every  town 
and  village  on  the  banks,  from  Morges  to  Vevay, 
was  demolished,  and  they  did  not  begin  the 
work  of  rebuilding  till  the  following  century. 
Some  say,  however,  that  the  disaster  was  caused 
by  a  landslip  which  fell  from  the  Grammont  or 
Derochiaz  across  the  valley  of  the  Rhone,  just 
above  the  spot  where  it  flows  into  the  Lake  of 
Geneva.  Hundreds  of  such  falls  have  taken 
place  within  the  Alps  and  neighbouring  moun- 
tains within  historic  times. 

Two  out  of  the  five  peaks  of  the  Diablerets 
fell  down,  one  in  1714  and  the  other  in  1749, 
covering  the  pastures  with  a  thick  layer  of  stones 
and  earth  more  than  three  hundred  feet  thick, 
and  by  obstructing  the  course  of  the  stream  of 
Lizerne,  formed  the  three  lakes  of  Derborence. 
In  like  manner  the  Bernina,  the  Dent  du  Midi, 


Sunshine  and  Storm  on  the  Mountains.     99 

the  Dent  de  Mayen,  and  the  Righi  have  over- 
spread with  ruin  vast  tracts  of  cultivated  land. 
In  Switzerland  the  most  noted  Bergfalls  are 
those  from  the  Diablerets  and  the  Rossberg. 
The  former  mountain  is  a  long  flattish  ridge 
with  several  small  peaks,  overhanging  very 
steep  walls  of  rock  on  either  side.  These  walls 
are  composed  of  alternating  beds  of  limestone 
and  shale.  Hence  it  is  easily  perceived  that  we 
have  here  conditions  favourable  for  landslips, 
because  if  anything  weakens  one  of  these  beds 
of  shale  the  overlying  mass  might  be  inclined 
to  break  away.  The  fall  in  the  year  1714, 
already  referred  to,  was  a  very  destructive 
one. 

"  For  two  whole  days  previously  loud  groaning  had 
been  heard  to  issue  from  the  mountain,  as  though 
some  imprisoned  spirit  were  struggling  to  release  him- 
self, like  Typhosus  from  under  Etna ;  then  a  vast 
fragment  of  the  upper  part  of  the  mountain  broke 
suddenly  away  and  thundered  down  the  precipices  into 
the  valley  beneath.  In  a  few  minutes  fifty -five  chalets, 
with  sixteen  men  and  many  head  of  cattle,  were  buried 
for  ever  under  the  ruins.  One  remarkable  escape  has 
indeed  been  recorded,  perhaps  the  most  marvellous 
ever  known.  A  solitary  herdsman  from  the  village  of 
Avent  occupied  one  of  the  chalets  which  were  buried 


100  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

under  the  fallen  mass.  Not  a  trace  of  it  remained  ; 
his  friends  in  the  valley  below  returned  from  their  un- 
successful search,  and  mourned  him  as  dead.  He  was, 
however,  still  among  the  living;  a  huge  rock  had 
fallen  in  such  a  manner  as  to  protect  the  roof  of  his 
chalet,  which,  as  is  often  the  case,  rested  against  a 
cliff.  Above  this,  stones  and  earth  had  accumulated, 
and  the  man  was  buried  alive.  Death  would  soon  have 
released  him  from  his  imprisonment,  had  not  a  little 
rill  of  water  forced  its  way  through  the  debris  and 
trickled  into  the  chalet.  Supported  by  this  and  by  his 
store  of  cheese,  he  lived  three  months,  labouring  all 
the  while  incessantly  to  escape.  Shortly  before 
Christmas  he  succeeded,  after  almost  incredible  toil, 
in  once  more  looking  on  the  light  of  day,  which  his 
dazzled  eyes,  so  long  accustomed  to  the  murky  dark- 
ness below,  for  a  while  could  scarcely  support.  He 
hastened  down  to  his  home  in  Avent,  and  knocked  at 
his  own  door ;  pale  and  haggard,  he  scarcely  seemed  a 
being  of  this  world.  His  relations  would  not  believe 
that  one  so  long  lost  could  yet  be  alive,  and  the  door 
was  shut  in  his  face.  He  turned  to  a  friend's  house ; 
no  better  welcome  awaited  him.  Terror  seized  upon 
the  village  ;  the  priest  was  summoned  to  exorcise  the 
supposed  demon  ;  and  it  was  not  till  he  came  that  the 
unfortunate  man  could  persuade  them  that  he  was  no 
spectre,  but  flesh  and  blood."1 

The  valley  is  still  a  wild  scene  of  desolation, 

1  Bonney. 


Sunshine  and  Storm  on  the  Mountains.     101 

owing  to  the  enormous  masses  of  stones  of 
every  shape  and  size  with  which  its  bed  is 
filled. 

In  September  of  the  year  1806,  the  second 
fall  of  the  mountain  Rossberg  took  place,  after 
a  wet  summer.  It  is  underlaid  by  beds  of  clay 
which,  when  water  penetrates,  are  apt  to  give 
way.  The  part  which  fell  was  about  three  miles 
long  and  350  yards  wide  and  33  yards  thick. 
In  five  minutes  one  of  the  most  fertile  valleys 
in  Switzerland  was  changed  to  a  stony  desert. 
Three  whole  villages,  six  churches,  120  houses, 
200  stables  or  chalets,  225  head  of  cattle,  and 
much  land  were  buried  under  the  ruins  of  the 
Rossberg ;  484  persons  lost  their  lives.  Some 
remarkable  escapes  are  recorded. 

In  the  year  1618  the  downfall  of  Monte 
Conto  buried  2,400  inhabitants  of  the  village 
of  Pleurs,  near  Chiavenna.  Excavation  among 
the  ruins  was  subsequently  attempted,  but  a 
few  mangled  corpses  and  a  church-bell  were 
all  that  could  be  reached. 

Geologically  these  phenomena,  appalling  as 
they  are  from  the  human  point  of  view,  pos- 
sess a  certain  interest,  and  their  effects  deserve 
to  be  studied. 


-102  -The-St'ory  of  the  Hills. 

There  is  yet  another  danger  to  which  dwellers 
in  mountains  are  occasionally  exposed  ;  namely, 
the  earthquake.  It  seems  to  be  an  established 
fact  that  earthquake  shocks  are  more  frequent  in 
mountainous  than  in  flat  countries.  The  origin 
of  these  dangerous  disturbances  of  the  earth's 
crust  has  not  yet  been  fully  explained.  They 
are  probably  caused  in  various  ways;  and  it  is 
very  likely  that  the  upheaval  of  mountain- 
chains  is  one  of  the  causes  at  work.  Earth- 
quakes have  for  many  years  been  carefully 
studied  by  scientific  men,  and  some  valuable 
discoveries  have  been  made.  Thus  we  find 
that  they  are  more  frequent  in  winter  than 
summer,  and  also  happen  more  often  by  night 
than  by  day.  Day  and  night  are  like  summer 
and  winter  on  a  small  scale,  and  so  we  need 
not  be  surprised  at  this  discovery.  Some  have 
maintained  that  there  is  a  connection  between 
earthquakes  and  the  position  of  the  moon ; 
while  others  consider  that  the  state  of  the 
atmosphere  also  exerts  an  influence,  and  that 
earthquakes  are  connected  with  rainy  seasons, 
storms,  etc.  Earthquakes  are  very  often  due 
to  volcanic  eruptions,  but  this  is  not  always 
the  case  (see  chapter  yi.,  page  J 9 9). 


CHAPTER  IV. 

MOUNTAIN   PLANTS    AND    ANIMALS. 

The  high  hills  are  a  refuge  for  the  wild  goats,  and  so  are  the 
stony  rocks  for  the  conies.  —  Psalm  civ.  18. 

There  must  be  few  people  who  have  neither 
seen  nor  heard  of  the  beauty  and  exquisite 
colours  of  Alpine 1  flowers.  They  are  first  seen 
on  the  fringes  of  the  stately  woods  above  the 
cultivated  land ;  then  in  multitudes  on  the 
sloping  pastures  with  which  many  mountain- 
chains  are  robed,  brightening  the  verdure  with 
innumerable  colours ;  and  higher  up,  where 
neither  grass  nor  loose  herbage  can  exist, 
among  the  slopes  of  shattered  fragments  which 
roll  down  from  the  mountain-tops,  —  nay,  even 
amidst  the  glaciers,  —  they  gladden  the  eye  of 
the  traveller  and   seem  to  plead  sweetly  with 

1  The  word  "  Alpine  "  is  used  in  a  general  sense  to  denote 
the  vegetation  that  grows  naturally  on  the  most  elevated  regions 
of  the  earth  ;  that  is,  on  all  high  mountains,  whether  they  rise  up 
in  hot  tropical  plains  or  in  cooler  northern  pastures. 


104  The  Story  of  the  Hills, 

the  spirits  of  destruction.  Alpine  plants  fringe 
the  vast  hills  of  snow  and  ice  of  the  high  hills, 
and  sometimes  have  scarcely  time  to  flower 
and  ripen  a  few  seeds  before  being  again  cov- 
ered by  their  snowy  bed.  When  the  season  is 
unfavourable,  numbers  of  them  remain  under 
the  snow  for  more  than  a  year ;  and  here  they 
safely  rest,  unharmed  by  the  alternations  of 
frost  and  biting  winds,  with  moist  and  spring- 
like days.  They  possess  the  great  charm  of 
endless  variety  of  form  and  colour,  and  represent 
widely  separated  divisions  of  the  vegetable 
kingdom ;  but  they  are  all  small  and  low-grow- 
ing compared  to  their  relatives  grown  in  the 
plains,  where  the  soil  is  richer  and  the  climate 
milder.  Among  them  are  tiny  orchids  quite 
as  interesting  in  their  way  as  those  from  the 
tropics ;  liliputian  trees,  and  a  tree-like  moss 
(Lycopodium  dendroideum)  branching  into  an 
erect  little  pyramid  as  if  in  imitation  of  a 
mountain  pine ;  ferns  that  peep  cautiously  from 
narrow  rocky  crevices  as  if  clinging  to  the  rock 
for  shelter  from  the  cold  blasts ;  bulbous  plants, 
from  lilies  to  bluebells ;  evergreen  shrubs,  per- 
fect in  leaf  and  blossom  and  fruit,  yet  so  small 
that  one's  hat  will  cover  them ;  exquisite  creep- 


Mountain  Plants  and  Animals.        105 

ing  plants  spreading  freely  along  the  ground, 
and  when  they  creep  over  the  brows  of  rocks 
or  stones,  draping  them  with  curtains  of  colour 
as  lovely  as  those  we  see  in  the  forests  ;  num- 
berless minute  plants  scarcely  larger  than 
mosses,  mantling  the  earth  with  fresh  green 
carpets  in  the  midst  of  winter ;  succulent  plants 
in  endless  variety  ;  and  lastly  the  ferns,  mosses, 
and  lichens  which  are  such  an  endless  source 
of  pleasure  and  delight  to  the  traveller.  In 
short,  Alpine  vegetation  presents  us  with  nearly 
every  type  of  plant  life  of  northern  and  tem- 
perate climes,  chastened  in  tone  and  diminished 
in  size. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  account  for  the  small 
size  of  these  plants  ;  for  in  the  first  place  we 
cannot  expect  a  large  or  luxuriant  growth  where 
the  air  is  cold,  the  soil  scanty,  and  the  light 
of  the  sun  often  obscured  by  clouds,  and  where 
the  changes  of  temperature  are  rapid,  —  which 
is  very  unfavourable  to  most  plants.  Again, 
in  the  close  struggle  for  existence  which  takes 
place  on  the  plains  and  low  tree-clad  hills,  the 
smaller  forms  of  plant  life  are  often  overrun 
by  trees,  trailing  plants,  bushes,  and  vigorous 
herbs;   but  where  these   cannot   find  a  home, 


106  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

owing  to  the  severity  of  the  winter  and  other 
causes,  the  little  Alpine  plants,  covered  up  by 
snow  in  the  winter,  can  thrive  abundantly.  And 
lastly,  like  the  older  and  conquered  races  of 
men  who  have  been  driven  to  the  hills  (see  chap,  i., 
p.  28)  and  find  shelter  there,  so  there  are  both 
plants  and  animals  living  in  the  mountains  which 
man  will  not  suffer  to  live  in  the  plain  where 
he  grows  his  crops,  pastures  his  cattle,  or  builds 
his  cities.  We  would  also  venture  to  suggest 
that  possibly  some  plants  have  been  ousted 
from  plains  by  newer  and  more  aggressive 
types,  which  came  and  took  their  place.  If  so, 
vegetable  life  would  afford  an  illustration  of 
a  process  which  has  so  often  taken  place  in 
human  history.  This  is  only  a  speculation,  but 
still  it  might  be  worth  following  up.  If  Alpine 
plants,  or  any  considerable  number  of  them, 
could  be  shown  to  belong  to  more  ancient  types, 
such  as  flourished  in  the  later  geological  periods, 
that  would  afford  some  evidence  in  favour  of 
the  idea.  Whether  this  is  so  or  not,  plant  life 
on  the  mountains  is  almost  entirely  protected 
from  the  destroying  hands  of  men  with  their 
ploughs  and  scythes,  as  well  as  from  many 
grazing  animals.     As  Mr.  Ruskin  quaintly  says  : 


Mountain  Plants  and  Aninials.       107 

"  The  flowers  which  on  the  arable  plain  fell  before 
the  plough  now  find  out  for  themselves  unapproach- 
able places,  where  year  by  year  they  gather  into 
happier  fellowship  and  fear  no  evil." 

It  is  clear  that  the  climate  of  a  mountainous 
region  determines  the  character  of  the  vegetation. 
Now,  the  climate  will  be  different  in  different 
parts  of  a  mountain-range,  and  will  depend  upon 
the  height  above  the  sea  and  other  causes.1  Some 
writers  upon  this  subject  have  attached  too  much 
importance  to  absolute  height  above  the  sea,  as 
though  this  were  the  only  cause  at  work.  It  is 
a  very  important  cause,  no  doubt,  but  there  are 
others  which  also  have  a  great  influence,  such  as 
the  position  of  each  locality  with  respect  to  the 
great  mountain  masses,  the  local  conditions  of 
exposure  to  the  sun  and  protection  from  cold 
winds,  or  the  reverse.  However,  in  spite  of 
local  irregularities  there  are  in  the  Alps  certain 
broad  zones  or  belts  of  vegetation  which  may 
be  briefly  described  as  follows :  — 

1.  The  Olive  region.  —  This  region  curiously 
illustrates  what  has  just  been  said  about  other 
causes   besides   height   influencing   the   climate 

1  The  following  remarks  are  largely  taken  from  the  Introduce 
tion  to  Ball's  well-known   "  Alpine  Guide." 


108  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

and  vegetation.  For  along  the  southern  base 
of  the  Alps,  the  lower  slopes  and  the  mouths 
of  the  valleys  have  a  decidedly  warmer  climate 
than  the  plains  of  Piedmont  and  Lombardy. 
Thus,  while  the  winter  climate  of  Milan  is 
colder  than  that  of  Edinburgh,  the  olive  can 
ripen  its  fruit  along  the  skirts  of  the  moun- 
tain region,  and  penetrates  to  a  certain  dis- 
tance towards  the  interior  of  the  chain  along 
the  lakes  and  the  wider  valleys  of  the  Southern 
Alps.  Even  up  the  shores  of  the  Lake  of  Garda, 
where  the  evergreen  oak  grows,  the  olive  has 
become  wild.  The  milder  climate  of  the  Bor- 
romean  Islands,  and  some  points  on  the  shores 
of  the  Lago  Maggiore,  will  permit  many  plants 
of  the  warmer  temperate  zone  to  grow  ;  while  at 
a  distance  of  a  few  miles,  and  close  to  the  shores 
of  the  same  lake,  but  in  positions  exposed  to  the 
cold  winds  from  the  Alps,  plants  of  the  Alpine 
region  grow  freely,  and  no  delicate  perennials 
can  survive  the  winter.  The  olive  has  been 
known  to  resist  a  temperature  of  about  16°  F. 
(or  16°  below  the  freezing  point  of  water),  but  is 
generally  destroyed  by  a  less  degree  of  cold.  It 
can  only  be  successfully  cultivated  where  the 
winter  frosts  are  neither  long  nor  severe,  where 


Mountain  Plants  and  Animals,        109 

the  mean  temperature  of  winter  does  not  fall 
below  42°  F.,  and  a  heat  of  75°  F.  during  the 
day  is  continued  through  four  or  five  months  of 
the  summer  and  autumn. 

2.   The   Vine  region.  —  The  vine,  being  more 
tolerant  of   cold   than    the  olive,  can    grow  at 
a  higher  level ;  and  so  the  next  zone  of  vege- 
tation  in   the  Alps  may  be  called    "  the  Vine 
region."      But    to   give  tolerable   wine    it    re- 
quires    at     the     season    of    ripening    of    the 
grape   almost    as   much   warmth    as   the   olive 
needs.      Vines   can    grow    in   the    deeper   val- 
leys   throughout   a    great    part  of   the    Alpine 
chain,   and   in   favourable    situations   up   to   a 
considerable   height   on   their  northern   slopes. 
On  the  south  side,  although  the  limit  of   per- 
petual snow   is  lower,  the    vine   often   reaches 
near   to   the   foot   of  the  greater  peaks.     But 
the  fitness  of   a   particular   spot   for   the   pro- 
duction   of    wine    depends    far    more    on    the 
direction    of    the   valley   and    of    the   prevail- 
ing   winds    than    on    the    height.     And  so    it 
happens   that   in    the  Canton  Valais,   the  Val- 
ley of  the  Arc    in  Savoy,  and  some  others  on 
the  north  side  of  the  dividing  range,  tolerable 
wine  is  made  at  a  higher  level  than  in  the  val- 


110  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

leys  of  Lombardy,  whose  direction  allows  the 
free  passage  of  the  keen  northern  blasts.  It  is 
a  curious  fact  that  in  the  Alps  the  vine  often  re- 
sists a  winter  temperature  which  would  kill  it 
down  to  the  roots  in  the  low  country ;  and  we 
must  explain  it  by  the  protection  of  the  deep 
winter  snow.  Along  with  the  vine  many  species 
of  wild  plants,  especially  annuals,  characteristic 
of  the  flora  of  the  south  of  Europe,  show  them- 
selves in  the  valleys  of  the  Alps. 

3.  The  Mountain  region,  or  region  of  deciduous 
trees.  —  Many  writers  take  the  growth  of  corn 
as  the  characteristic  of  the  colder  temperate 
zone,  corresponding  to  what  has  been  called 
the  mountain  region  of  the  Alps.  But  so 
many  varieties,  all  with  different  require- 
ments, are  in  cultivation,  that  it  is  impos- 
sible to  take  the  growth  of  cereals  in  general 
as  marking  clearly  any  natural  division  of  the 
surface.  A  more  natural  limit  is  marked  by 
the  presence  of  deciduous  trees  (trees  which 
shed  their  leaves).  Although  the  oak,  beech, 
and  ash  do  not  exactly  reach  the  same  height, 
and  are  not  often  seen  growing  side  by  side  in 
the  Alps,  yet  their  upper  limit  marks  pretty 
accurately   the  transition  from  a  temperate  to 


Mountain  Plants  and  Animals,        111 

a  colder  climate  that  is  shown  by  a  general 
change  in  the  wild,  herbaceous  vegetation. 
The  lower  limit  of  this  zone  is  too  irregular 
to  be  exactly  defined,  but  its  upper  boundary 
is  about  4,000  feet  on  the  cold  north  side  of  the 
Alps,  and  often  rises  to  5,500  feet  on  the  south- 
ern slopes,  which  of  course  get  more  sunshine 
and  warmth.  The  climate  of  this  region  is  fa- 
vourable to  the  growth  of  such  trees  as  the  oak, 
beech,  and  ash,  but  it  does  not  follow  that  we 
should  see  them  there  in  any  great  numbers  at 
the  present  time ;  for  it  is  probable  that  at  a 
very  early  date  they  were  extensively  destroyed 
for  building  purposes,  and  to  clear  space  for  mea- 
dow and  pasture  land,  so  that  with  the  exception 
of  the  beech  forests  of  the  Austrian  Alps,  there 
is  scarcely  a  considerable  wood  of  deciduous  trees 
to  be  seen  anywhere  in  the  chain.  In  many  dis- 
tricts where  the  population  is  not  too  dense,  the 
pine  and  Scotch  fir  have  taken  the  place  of  the 
oak  and  beech,  mainly  because  the  young  plants 
are  not  so  eagerly  attacked  by  goats,  the  great 
destroyers  of  trees. 

4.  TJie  region  of  Coniferous  trees.  —  Botani- 
cally  this  region  is  best  distinguished  by  the 
prevalence    of   coniferous    trees,    forming    vast 


112  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

forests,  which  if  not  kept  down  by  man  (and  by 
goats)  would  cover  the  slopes  of  the  Alps.  The 
prevailing  species  are  the  common  fir  and  the 
silver  fir.  In  districts  where  granite  abounds, 
the  larch  flourishes  and  reaches  a  greater  size 
than  any  other  tree.  Less  common  are  the 
Scotch  fir  and  the  arolla,  or  Siberian  fir.  In  the 
Eastern  Alps  the  dwarf  pine  becomes  conspicu- 
ous, forming  a  distinct  zone  on  the  higher  moun- 
tains above  the  level  of  other  firs.  The  pine 
forests  play  a  most  important  part  in  the  natural 
economy  of  the  Alps  ;  and  their  preservation  is  a 
matter  of  very  great  importance  to  the  future 
inhabitants.  But  in  some  places  they  have  been 
considerably  diminished  by  cutting.  This  has 
especially  happened  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
mines  ;  and  in  consequence  the  people  of  the  un- 
frequented communes  have  become  so  alive  to 
this  that  some  jealousy  is  felt  of  strangers 
wandering  among  the  mountains,  lest  they 
should  discover  metals  and  cause  the  destruction 
of  the  woods.  Their  fears  are  not  unreasonable  ; 
for  the  forests,  besides  exerting  a  good  deal  of 
influence  on  rainfall  and  climate,  form  natural  de- 
fences against  the  rush  of  the  spring  avalanches 
(see  chapter  iii,,  page  93).  It  is  recorded  that  after 


Mountain  Plants  and  Animals.       113 

the  war  of  1799,  in  which  many  of  those  near  the 
St.  Gothard  Pass  were  destroyed,  the  neighbour- 
ing villages  suffered  terribly  from  this  scourge. 
Hence  the  laws  do  not  allow  of  timber  being  cut 
in  certain  forests  called  "  Bannwalcle  ; '  and  in 
most  places  the  right  of  felling  trees  is  strictly 
regulated,  and  the  woods  are  under  the  inspec- 
tion of  officials. 

In  spots  high  up  among  the  mountains, 
to  which  access  is  difficult,  the  timber  is  con- 
verted into  charcoal,  wThich  is  then  brought 
down  in  sacks  by  horses  and  mules.  There  are 
two  ways  in  which  timber  is  conveyed  down 
from  the  forest :  either  it  is  cut  up  into  logs  some 
five  feet  long,  and  thrown  into  a  neighbouring 
torrent,  which  brings  it  down  over  cliff  and 
gorge  to  the  valley  below ;  or  else  trough- 
like slides  are  constructed  along  the  mountain- 
sides, down  which  the  trunks  themselves  are 
launched. 

It  is  this  region  of  coniferous  trees  which 
mainly  determines  the  manner  of  life  of  the 
population  of  the  Alps.  In  the  month  of  May 
the  horned  cattle,  having  been  fed  in  houses 
during  the  winter  (as  they  are  in  the  Scotch 
Highlands,    where     the    cowsheds    are    called 

8 


114  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

"  byres  " ),  are  led  up  to  the  lower  pastures.  The 
lower  chalets,  occupied  in  May  and  part  of  June, 
generally  stand  at  about  the  upper  limit  of  the 
mountain  region.  Towards  the  middle  or  end 
of  June  the  cattle  are  moved  up  to  the  chief  pas- 
tures, towards  the  upper  part  of  the  region  of 
coniferous  trees,  where  they  usually  remain  for 
the  next  two  or  three  months.  But  there  are 
some  available  pastures  still  higher  up,  and 
hither  some  of  the  cattle  are  sent  for  a  month 
or  more. 

5.  The  Alpine  region.  —  This  is  the  zone  of 
vegetation  extending  from  the  upper  limit  of 
trees  to  where  permanent  masses  of  snow  first 
make  their  appearance ;  so  that  where  the  trees 
cease,  the  peculiar  Alpine  plants  begin ;  but  we 
still  find  shrubs,  such  as  the  common  rhodo- 
dendron, Alpine  willow,  and  the  common  juni- 
per, which  extend  up  to,  and  the  latter  even 
beyond,  the  level  of  perpetual  snow.  The 
limits  of  this  interesting  and  delightful  botan- 
ical region  may  be  fixed  between  6,000  and 
8,000  feet  above  the  sea,  and  at  least  1,000 
feet  higher  on  the  south  slopes  of  the  Alps, 
which  get  more  sunshine.  It  is  used  to  some 
extent  for  pasture  ;  and  in  Piedmont  it  is  not 


Mountain  Plants  and  Animals.        115 

uncommon  to  find  chalets  at  the  height  of 
8,500  feet,  and  vegetation  often  extends  freely 
up  to  9,500  feet.  Here  and  there,  at  levels 
below  this  zone,  many  Alpine  species  may  be 
found,  either  transported  by  accident  from  their 
natural  home,  or  finding  a  permanent  refuge 
in  some  cool  spot  sheltered  from  the  sun,  and 
moistened  by  streamlets  descending  from  the 
snow  region.  But  it  is  chiefly  here  that  those 
delightful  flowers  grow  which  make  the  Alps 
like  a  great  flower-garden,  —  great  anemones, 
white  and  sulphur-coloured ;  gentians  of  the 
deepest  blue,  like  the  sky  overhead  ;  campan- 
ulas, geums,  Alpine  solanellas,  and  forget-me- 
nots  ;  asters,  ox-eyed  daisies,  pale  pink  primulas, 
purple  heartsease,  edelweiss,  saxifrages,  yellow 
poppies,  Alpine  toad-flax,  monkshood,  potentilla, 
and  others  too  numerous  to  mention.  Says 
Professor  Bonney,  — 

"  Who  cannot  recall  many  a  happy  hour  spent  in 
rambling  from  cluster  to  cluster  on  the  side  of  some 
great  Alp  ?  —  the  scent  of  sweet  herbage  or  of  sweeter 
daphne  perfuming  the  invigorating  air,  the  melody  of 
the  cattle-bells  borne  up  from  some  far-off  pasture, 
while  the  great  blue  vault  of  heaven  above  seems  re- 
flected in  the  gentian  clusters  at  his  feet.      The  love 


116  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

of  flowers  seems  natural  to  almost  every  human  being, 
however  forlorn  his  life  may  have  been,  however  far  it 
may  have  missed  its  appointed  mark.  It  may  well  be 
so ;  they  at  least  are  fresh  and  untainted  from  their 
Maker's  hand ;  the  cry  of  '  Nature  red  in  tooth  and 
claw '  scarce  breaks  their  calm  repose.  Side  by  side 
they  flourish  without  strife  ;  none  '  letteth  or  hindereth 
another/  yet  so  tender  and  delicate,  doomed  to  fade 
all  too  soon,  a  touch  of  sadness  is  ever  present  to  give 
a  deeper  pathos  to  our  love." 

6.  The  Glacial  region.  —  This  comprehends  all 
that  portion  of  the  Alps  that  rises  above  the 
limit  of  perpetual  snow.  But  a  word  of  ex- 
planation is  necessary.  The  highest  parts  of 
the  Alps  are  not  covered  by  one  continuous 
sheet  of  snow ;  otherwise  we  should  never  see 
any  peaks  or  crags  there.  Some  are  too  steep 
for  the  snow  to  rest  upon  them,  and  therefore 
remain  bare  at  heights  much  greater  than  the 
so-called  "  limit  of  perpetual  snow/'  and  that 
limit  varies  considerably.  Still  this  term  has 
a  definite  meaning  when  rightly  understood. 
Leaving  out  of  account  masses  of  snow  that 
accumulate  in  hollows  shaded  from  the  sun, 
the  "  snow-line '  is  fairly  even,  so  that  on 
viewing  an  Alpine  range  from  a  distance,  the 


Mountain  Plci7its  and  Animals.        117 

larger  patches  and  fields  of  snow  on  adjoining 
mountains,  with  the  same  aspect,  are  seen  to 
maintain  a  pretty  constant  level. 

Vegetation  becomes  scarce  in  this  region,  not, 
as  commonly  supposed,  because  Alpine  plants  do 
not  here  find  the  necessary  conditions  for  growth, 
but  simply  for  want  of  soil.  The  intense  heat  of 
the  direct  rays  of  the  sun  (see  chapter  iii.,  pages 
76-77)  compensates  for  the  cold  of  the  night ; 
and  it  is  probable  that  the  greater  allowance 
of  light  also  stimulates  vegetable  life.  But  all 
the  more  level  parts  are  covered  with  ice  or 
snow ;  and  the  higher  we  ascend,  the  less  the 
surface  remains  bare,  with  the  exception  of  the 
projecting  rocks  which  usually  undergo  rapid 
destruction  and  breaking  up  from  the  freezing 
of  whatever  water  finds  its  way  into  their 
fissures. 

Nevertheless,  many  species  of  flowering  plants 
have  been  found  even  at  the  height  of  eleven 
thousand  feet. 

It  is  in  this  region  that  plants  are  found 
whose  true  home  is  in  the  arctic  regions  (see 
chapter  ii.,  pages  64-65). 

For  the  sake  of  those  who  love  ferns,  lyco- 
pods,  and  other  cryptogamic  or  flowerless  plants, 


118  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

a  few  words  may  be  said  here.  Of  the  poly- 
podies, the  beech  fern  and  oak  fern  are  generally 
common,  so  is  the  limestone  polypody  in  places 
where  limestone  occurs.  Another  species  (P. 
alpestre)  very  like  the  lady  fern  grows  plenti- 
fully in  many  places.  The  parsley  fern,  familiar 
to  the  botanist  in  Wales  and  other  parts  of  Great 
Britain,  is  common,  especially  on  the  crystalline 
rocks,  and  ascends  to  above  seven  thousand  feet. 
The  holly  fern  is  perhaps  the  most  characteristic 
one  of  the  higher  Alps.  It  is  abundant  in  almost 
every  district  from  the  Viso  to  the  Tyrol,  ranging 
from  about  five  thousand  feet  to  nearly  eight 
thousand  feet.  The  finest  specimens  are  to  be 
found  in  the  limestone  districts.  Nestling  down 
in  little  channels  worn  out  of  the  rock,  it  shoots 
out  great  fronds,  often  more  than  eighteen  inches 
long,  which  are  giants  compared  to  the  stunted 
specimens  seen  on  rockwork  in  English  gardens. 

Asplenium  septentrionah  is  very  common  in 
most  of  the  districts  where  crystalline  rocks 
abound.  The  hart's  tongue  is  hardly  to  be 
called  a  mountain  fern.  The  common  brake  is 
confined  to  the  lower  slopes. 

Cistopterisfragillis  and  C.  dentata  are  common, 
and  the  more  delicate    C.  Alpina  is  not   rare. 


Mountain  Plants  and  Animals.        119 

The  noble  Osmunda  regalis  keeps  to  the  warmer 
valleys.  The  moonwort  abounds  in  the  upper 
pastures. 

The  club-mosses  (Lycopodium),  which  are 
found  in  Great  Britain,  are  common  in  most 
parts  of  the  Alps,  especially  the  L.  selago,  which 
grows  almost  up  to  the  verge  of  the  snows. 
Lower  down  is  the  delicate  L.  velveticum,  which 
creeps  among  the  damp  mosses  under  the  shade 
of  the  forest.  Many  of  the  smaller  species  stain 
with  spots  of  crimson,  orange,  and  purple  the 
rocks  among  the  snowfields  and  glaciers,  and 
gain  the  summits  of  peaks  more  than  eighteen 
thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  reaching  even  to 
the  highest  rocks  in  the  Alpine  chain.  For  the 
sake  of  readers  who  are  not  familiar  with  that 
wonderful  book,  "  Modern  Painters,"  we  will 
quote  some  exquisite  passages  on  lichens  and 
mosses,  full  of  beautiful  thoughts  :  — 

"  We  have  found  beauty  in  the  tree  yielding  fruit 
and  in  the  herb  yielding  seed.  How  of  the  herb 
yielding  no  seed,  —  the  fruitless,  flowerless  2  lichen 
of  the  rock  ? 

"  Lichens  and  mosses  (though  these  last  in  their 
luxuriance  are  deep  and  rich  as  herbage,  yet  both  for 

1  Flowerless  in  the  ordinary,  not  the  botanical  sense. 


120  The  Story  of  the  Hills, 

the  most  part  humblest  of  the  green  things  that  live), 
—  how  of  these  ?  Meek  creatures  !  —  the  first  mercy 
of  the  earth,  veiling  with  trusted  softness  its  dintless 
rocks,  creatures  full  of  pity,  covering  with  strange  and 
tender  honour  the  scarred  disgrace  of  ruin,  laying 
quiet  finger  on  the  trembling  stones  to  teach  them 
rest.  No  words  that  I  know  of  will  say  what  these 
mosses  are ;  none  are  delicate  enough,  none  perfect 
enough,  none  rich  enough.  How  is  one  to  tell  of  the 
rounded  bosses  of  furred  and  beaming  green  ;  the 
starred  divisions  of  rubied  bloom,  fine-filmed,  as  if 
the  Rock  Spirits  could  spin  porphyry  as  we  do  grass  ; 
the  traceries  of  intricate  silver,  and  fringes  of  amber, 
lustrous,  arborescent,  burnished  through  every  fibre 
into  fitful  brightness  and  glossy  traverses  of  silken 
change,  yet  all  subdued  and  pensive,  and  framed  for 
simplest,  sweetest  offices  of  grace  ?  They  will  not  be 
gathered,  like  the  flowers,  for  chaplet  or  love  token; 
but  of  these  the  wild  bird  will  make  its  nest  and  the 
wearied  child  his  pillow. 

"  And  as  the  earth's  first  mercy,  so  they  are  its  last 
gift  to  us.  When  all  other  service  is  vain,  from  plant 
and  tree  the  soft  mosses  and  grey  lichen  take  up 
their  watch  by  the  headstone.  The  woods,  the  bios- 
soms,  the  gift-bearing  grasses,  have  done  their  parts 
for  a  time,  but  these  do  service  for  ever.  Tree  for  the 
builder's  yard  —  flowers  for  the  bride's  chamber  — 
corn  for  the  granary  —  moss  for  the  grave. 

"  Yet  as  in  one  sense  the  humblest,  in  another  they 


Mountain  Plants  and  Animals.       121 

are  the  most  honoured  of  the  earth-children  ;  unfading 
as  motionless,  the  worm  frets  them  not  and  the  autumn 
wastes  not.  Strong  in  lowliness,  they  neither  blanch 
in  heat  nor  pine  in  frost.  To  them,  slow-fingered, 
constant- hearted,  is  entrusted  the  weaving  of  the  dark, 
eternal  tapestries  of  the  hills  ;  to  them,  slow-pencilled, 
iris-dyed,  the  tender  framing  of  their  endless  imagery. 
Sharing  the  stillness  of  the  unim passioned  rock,  they 
share  also  its  endurance ;  and  while  the  winds  of  de- 
parting spring  scatter  the  white  hawthorn  blossom 
like  drifted  snow,  and  summer  dims  on  the  parched 
meadow  the  drooping  of  its  cowslip,  —  gold  far  above, 
among  the  mountains,  the  silver  lichen-spots  rest, 
star-like,  on  the  stone  ;  and  the  gathering  orange-stain 
upon  the  edge  of  yonder  western  peak  reflects  the 
sunsets  of  a  thousand  years." 

Alpine  and  arctic  plants  are  met  with  in 
Great  Britain,  but  Scotland  has  a  much  more 
extensive  arctic- Alpine  flora  than  England, 
Wales,  or  Ireland,  the  reason  being  the  greater 
altitude  of  its  mountains.  The  combined  flora 
of  the  United  Kingdom  contains  only  ninety- 
one  species  of  arctic-Alpine  plants,  and  of  these 
eighty- eight  —  that  is,  all  but  three  —  are  na- 
tives of  Scotland.  Of  these  three  the  first  is  a 
gentian  (Gentiana  verna),  which  is  to  be  found 
on    the     hills    of    West    Yorkshire,    Durham, 


122  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

Westmoreland,  and  other  parts.  It  comes  from 
the  Alps.  The  second  is  Lloydia  serotina,  —  a 
small  bulbous  plant  with  white  flowers,  which 
is  found  on  the  hills  of  Carnarvonshire,  in 
Wales.  The  third,  well  known  in  English 
gardens,  is  London  pride  (Saxifraga  umbrosa), 
which  is  only  to  be  found  on  the  southwest 
Irish  hills. 

Of  the  ninety-one  arctic-Alpine  species,  just 
about  half  are  also  natives  of  England  and 
Wales,  but  only  twenty-five  belong  to  Ireland. 
If  we  examine  the  lists  of  the  flora  of  Arctic 
Europe  we  find  that  all  these,  except  about 
six,  are  found  in  arctic  regions;  and  if  we 
travel  farther  north  till  we  come  actually  to 
polar  regions,  we  find  nearly  fifty  of  these 
species  growing  there  near  the  sea-level.  The 
Grampian  Mountains  are  the  chief  centre  of 
the  Scottish  arctic-Alpine  flora.  The  two  prin- 
cipal localities  for  such  flowers  in  that  range 
are  the  Breadalbane  Mountains  in  Perthshire, 
and  the  Csenlochan  and  Clova  Mountains  of 
Forfarshire.  There  are  also  a  goodly  number 
on  the  mountains  of  the  Braemar  district. 

The  history  of  the  arctic-Alpine  flora  of  Eu- 
rope is  a  very  interesting  one.     These  plants, 


Mountain  Plants  and  Animals,       123 

whose  true  home  is  in  the  arctic  regions,  liv- 
ing high  up  on  the  mountains  of  Europe,  give 
unmistakable  evidence  of  a  time,  very  far 
back,  when  Northern  Europe  was  overrun  by 
glaciers  and  snowfields  so  as  to  resemble  in 
appearance  and  in  climate  the  Greenland  of 
the  present  day.  This  period  is  known  to 
geologists  as  the  "  Great  Ice  Age."  The  mo- 
raines of  glaciers,  ice-worn  rock  surfaces,  and 
other  unmistakable  signs  may  be  well  seen  in 
many  parts  of  Great  Britain.  How  long  ago 
this  took  place  we  cannot  say ;  but  judging 
from  the  considerable  changes  in  geography 
which  have  undoubtedly  taken  place  since 
then,  we  must  conclude  that  many  thousands 
of  years,  perhaps  two  hundred  thousand,  have 
intervened  between  this  period  and  the  pres- 
ent time. 

When  arctic  conditions  prevailed  over  this 
wide  area,  the  plants  and  animals  which  now 
live  in  arctic  latitudes  flourished  in  Great 
Britain ;  but  as  the  climate  gradually  became 
more  genial,  and  the  snow  and  ice  melted,  the 
plants  and  animals  mostly  retreated  to  their 
northern  home.  A  certain  number  doubtless 
became   extinct ;    but  others  took  to   the  high- 


124  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

est  parts  of  the  mountains,  where  snow  and 
ice  abound ;  and  there  they  remain  to  the 
present  day,  separated  from  their  fellows,  but 
still  enjoying  the  kind  of  climate  to  which 
they  have  always  been  accustomed,  and  testi- 
fying to  the  wonderful  changes  which  have 
taken  place  since  the  mammoth,  whose  bones 
are  found  embedded  in  our  river-gravels,  wan- 
dered over  the  plains  of  Northern  Europe. 

Animal  Life. 

The  rocky  fastnesses  of  the  Alps  still  afford  a 
home  to  some  of  the  larger  wild  animals  which 
in  other  parts  of  Europe  have  gradually  dis- 
appeared with  the  advance  of  civilisation. 
During  the  latter  part  of  the  "  Stone  Age,"  long 
before  history  was  written,  when  men  used 
axes,  hammers,  arrow-heads,  and  other  imple- 
ments of  stone,  instead  of  bronze  or  iron,  Switz- 
erland was  inhabited  by  animals  which  are 
not  to  be  seen  now.  The  gigantic  urus  (Bos 
2?rimigenius),  which  flourished  in  the  forests 
of  the  interior  during  this  prehistoric  human 
period,  and  gave  its  name  to  the  canton  of 
Uri,  has  become  extinct.  The  marsh  hog  was 
living   during   the   period    of    the    Swiss   lake- 


Mountain  Plants  and  Animals.        125 

dwellers.  These  people  made  their  houses  on 
piles  driven  in  near  the  shore,  and  were  ac- 
quainted with  the  use  of  bronze,  and  therefore 
later  than  the  men  of  the  "  Stone  Age."  The 
remains  of  these  strange  dwelling-places  have 
been  discovered  in  several  places,  as  well  as 
many  articles  of  daily  use.  The  marsh  hog  has 
disappeared  ;  and  its  place  is  taken  by  the  wild 
boar  and  domestic  hog,  which  afford  sport  and 
food  to  the  present  population.  But  taking 
Switzerland  as  it  now  is,  we  will  say  a  few 
words  about  the  more  interesting  forms  of  ani- 
mal life  dwelling  in  the  Alps,  beginning  with 
those  which  are  highest  in  the  animal  kingdom. 
Chief  among  these  is  the  brown  bear,  still  occa- 
sionally found,  but  it  is  exceedingly  rare,  except 
in  the  Grisons  and  in  the  districts  of  the  Tyrol 
and  Italy  bordering  on  the  canton,  where  it  still 
carries  on  its  ravages.1  Some  also  believe  that  it 
still  lingers  in  the  rocky  fastnesses  of  the  Jura 
Mountains,  to  the  east  of  the  Alps.  There  is 
properly  only  one  species  of  bear  in  Switzerland, 
but  the  hunters  generally  speak  of  three,  —  the 
great   black,    the    great    grey,    and    the    small 

1  We  are  again  indebted  to  Professor  Bonney's  "  Alpine  Re- 
gions of  Switzerland  "  for  the  information  here  given. 


126  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

brown.  The  second  of  these  is  merely  an  ac- 
cidental variety  of  the  first;  but  between  the 
grey  and  the  small  brown  bears  there  is  a  good 
deal  of  difference.  They  assert  that  the  black 
bear  is  not  only  considerably  larger  than  the 
brown,  but  is  also  different  in  its  habits.  It  is 
less  ferocious  and  prefers  a  vegetable  diet,  — 
feeding  on  herbs,  corn,  and  vegetables,  with  the 
roots  and  branches  of  trees.  It  has  a  way  of 
plundering  bee-hives  and  also  ants'  nests  ;  it 
delights  in  strawberries  and  all  kinds  of  fruit, 
plundering  the  orchards,  and  even  making  raids 
on  the  vineyards,  but  always  retreating  before 
dawn.  As  a  rule  it  does  not  attack  human 
beings.  The  brown  bear  is  much  more  formi- 
dable, prowling  by  night  about  the  sheepfolds, 
and  causing  the  sheep  by  their  fright  to  fall 
down  precipices.  Goats,  when  alarmed,  leap  on 
the  roofs  of  the  chalets,  and  bleat,  in  order  to 
arouse  the  shepherds ;  so  that  when  Bruin  rears 
himself  up  against  the  wall  he  often  meets  his 
death.  There  are  many  stories  on  record  of 
fierce  fights  for  life  between  man  and  bear.  The 
bear  passes  the  winter  in  a  torpid  state,  and 
eats  little  or  nothing  then. 

The  wolf,  though   still  lingering    in    several 


Mountain  Plants  and  Animals.       127 

lonely  parts  of  the  Alps,  is  rapidly  becoming  rare. 
It  is  most  frequent  in  the  districts  about  the 
Engadine  and  in  the  Jura  Mountains.  Only  in 
winter-time,  when  hard  pressed  by  hunger,  does 
it  approach  the  haunts  of  man.  It  takes  almost 
any  kind  of  prey  it  can  get,  —  foxes,  hares,  rats, 
mice,  birds,  lizards,  frogs,  and  toads.  Sheep 
and  goats  are  its  favourite  prey.  The  wolf  is  an 
affectionate  parent,  and  takes  his  turn  in  look- 
ing after  the  nurslings,  which  is  a  necessary 
precaution,  as  his  friends  and  relations  have  a 
way  of  eating  up  the  babies. 

The  fox  is  common  in  many  parts  of  the 
Alps,  but  not  often  seen  by  travellers.  Instead 
of  taking  the  trouble  to  burrow,  he  frequently 
manages  by  various  cunning  devices  to  take  pos- 
session of  a  badger's  hole.  As  Tschudi  quaintly 
observes,  "  He  has  far  too  much  imagination 
and  poetic  sentiment  to  like  so  monotonous  and 
laborious  an  occupation  as  burrowing."  Like 
the  wolf,  the  mountain  fox  eats  whatever  he 
can  catch,  even  beetles,  flies,  and  bees.  Those 
in  the  valleys  live  more  luxuriously  than  their  re- 
lations on  the  mountains,  —  plundering  bee-hives 
and  robbing  orchards.  As  it  was  in  Judaea  in 
the  days  of  Solomon,  so  it  is  now  in  Switzerland 


128  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

among  the  vineyards ;  and  a  peasant  might  well 
say,  "  Take  us  the  foxes,  the  little  foxes  that 
spoil  the  vineyards. " 

The  lynx  is  only  occasionally  found  in  the 
Alps,  which  is  fortunate  for  the  shepherds,  for 
they  can  play  terrible  havoc  with  the  sheep. 

Wild-cats  still  linger  in  the  most  unfrequented 
parts.  Their  fur  is  valuable,  and  the  flesh  is 
sometimes  eaten.  The  badger  is  far  from  com- 
mon, though  rarely  seen  by  day.  It  is  very  cun- 
ning in  avoiding  traps,  and  so  is  generally  either 
dug  out  of  its  hole  drawn  by  dogs,  or  pulled  out 
by  a  pole  with  nippers  or  a  hook  at  the  end. 
Passing  on  to  less  ferocious  beasts,  we  find  the 
otter  common  along  the  borders  of  rivers  and 
lakes.  The  polecat,  weasel,  and  stoat  are  often 
too  abundant  for  keepers  of  poultry.  The  squir- 
rel is  common  enough  in  the  forests,  but  varies 
greatly  in  colour.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the 
beaver  still  lingers  by  some  lonely  Alpine 
stream.  It  is  last  mentioned  in  a  list  of  Swiss 
mammals,  published  in  1817,  as  found,  though 
rarely,  in  some  lonely  spots.  Kabbits  are  com- 
mon, but  hares  rather  scarce  ;  of  these  there 
are,  as  in  Scotland,  two  varieties,  —  the  brown 
hare,  which  is  seldom  found  at  heights  greater 


Mountain  Plants  and  Animals,        129 

than  four  thousand  to  five  thousand  feet,  and 
the  blue  hare,  which  ranges  up  to  nine  thousand 
feet.  The  latter  changes  colour  :  its  fur  in  sum- 
mer is  of  a  dull  bluish-grey,  and  in  winter  it 
becomes  perfectly  white,  and  so  affords  a  strik- 
ing illustration  of  "  protective  mimicry,"  for 
with  snow  lying  on  the  ground  it  would  be  very 
hard  to  see  the  creature. 

The  marmot  is  common  in  all  the  higher 
Alpine  regions.  These  interesting  little  crea- 
tures are  very  watchful,  and  easily  scent  danger. 
When  an  intruder  approaches,  a  sentinel  marmot 
utters  a  long  shrill  whistle,  which  is  often  re- 
peated two  or  three  times,  and  then  they  all 
make  for  their  burrows ;  but  it  is  not  easy  to 
distinguish  them  from  the  grey  rocks  among 
which  they  live.  The  fur  is  a  yellowish  or 
brownish  grey,  with  black  on  the  head  and 
face,  and  a  little  white  on  the  muzzle ;  the 
tail  is  short  and  bushy  with  a  tipping  of 
black.  They  have  different  quarters  for  sum- 
mer and  winter.  The  summer  burrows  are  in 
the  belt  of  rough  pasture  between  the  upper 
limits  of  trees  and  the  snows ;  towards  the 
end  of  autumn  they  come  down  to  the  pas- 
tures which  the  herdsmen  have  just  abandoned 


130  The  Story  of  the  Hills, 

and  there  make  their  winter  burrows,  which  are 
much  larger  than  the  summer  ones.  Like  rab- 
bits, they  frequently  make  a  bolt-hole,  by  which 
they  may  escape  from  an  intruder.  In  winter 
the  holes  are  plugged  up,  and  the  marmots,  roll- 
ing themselves  up  in  a  ball,  go  to  sleep  for  six 
months  or  more.  Sometimes  hunters  dig  them 
out ;  but  so  soundly  do  they  sleep  that,  according 
to  De  Saussure,  they  may  often  be  taken  out, 
placed  in  the  game-bag,  and  carried  home  with- 
out being  aroused.  They  wake  up  about  April. 
The  chamois,  a  very  favourite  subject  with 
the  wood-carvers,  is  the  only  member  of  the  an- 
telope family  in  Western  Europe  ;  it  is  found  in 
almost  every  part  of  the  Alps,  but  is  now  much 
rarer  than  it  was  formerly.  A  full-grown  cham- 
ois in  good  condition  weighs  about  sixty  pounds. 
The  hair  is  thick,  and  changes  colour  with  the 
season,  being  a  red  yellowish-brown  in  summer 
and  almost  black  in  winter.  The  horns,  which 
curve  backwards,  rise  from  the  head  above  and 
between  the  eyes  to  a  height  which  rarely  ex- 
ceeds seven  inches.  When  the  kid  is  about  three 
months  old,  the  horns  make  their  appearance,  and 
at  first  are  not  nearly  as  hook-shaped  as  they 
afterwards  become.     When  full-grown,  it  stands 


Mountain  Plants  and  Animals.       131 

at  the  shoulder  about  two  feet  from  the  ground. 
The  hind-legs  being  longer  than  the  fore-legs, 
its  gait  is  awkward  on  level  ground,  but  they  are 
admirably  suited  for  mountain  climbing.  When 
at  full  speed,  it  can  check  itself  almost  instantly, 
and  can  spring  with  wonderful  agility.  Its  hoofs 
are  not  well  adapted  for  traversing  the  ice,  and 
therefore  it  avoids  glaciers  as  far  as  possible. 
Having  a  great  fear  of  concealed  crevasses,  it  is 
very  shy  of  venturing  on  the  upper  part  of  a 
glacier ;  and  the  tracks  which  it  leaves  in  these 
places  often  show  by  their  windings  and  sudden 
turnings  that  the  animal  has  exercised  great 
caution.  And  so  travellers  often  use  this  as  a 
useful  clue  to  getting  safely  over  a  glacier. 
Its  agility  is  something  extraordinary.  It  can 
spring  across  chasms  six  or  seven  yards  wide, 
and  "  with  a  sudden  bound  leap  up  the  face 
of  a  perpendicular  rock,  and  merely  touching 
it  with  its  hoofs,  rebound  again  in  an  opposite 
direction  to  some  higher  crag,  and  thus  escape 
from  a  spot  where,  without  wings,  egress  seemed 
impossible.  When  reaching  upwards  on  its  hind- 
legs,  the  fore-legs  resting  on  some  higher  spot,  it 
is  able  to  stretch  to  a  considerable  distance,  and 
with  a  quick  spring  bring  up  its  hind-quarters 


132  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

to  a  level  with  the  rest  of  the  body,  and  with  all 
four  hoofs  together,  stand  poised  on  a  point  of 
rock  not  broader  than  your  hand."  i  The  cham- 
ois feed  on  various  mountain  herbs,  and  on  the 
buds  and  sprouts  of  the  rhododendron  and  lat- 
schen  (a  pine).  At  night  they  couch  among  the 
broken  rocks  high  upon  the  mountains,  descend- 
ing at  daybreak  to  pasture,  and  retreating,  as  the 
heat  increases,  towards  their  fastnesses.  When 
winter  comes,  they  are  forced  down  to  the  higher 
forests,  where  they  pick  up  a  scanty  subsistence 
from  moss,  dead  leaves,  and  the  fibrous  lichen 
which  hangs  in  long  yellowish-grey  tufts  from 
the  fir-trees  and  bears  the  name  of  "  chamois- 
beard."  While  browsing  on  this,  they  sometimes 
get  their  horns  hooked  in  a  bough,  and  so,  being 
unable  to  disentangle  themselves,  perish  with 
hunger.  The  senses  of  hearing,  smell,  and  sight 
are  exceedingly  acute  ;  so  that  the  hunter  must 
exercise  all  his  craft  to  approach  the  animals. 

Pages  might    be   filled  with   the    hair-breadth 

©  © 

escapes  and  fearful  accidents  which  have  be- 
fallen hunters ;  and  yet  they  find  the  pursuit 
so  fascinating  that  nothing  will  induce  them 
to   abandon    it.      A    young   peasant   told    the 

1  Bonar  on  Chamois-huntinsr  in  Bavaria. 


O 


PS 

R 
P 


Mountain  Plants  and  Animals.       133 

famous  De  Saussure  (the  pioneer  of  Alpine 
explorers)  that  though  his  father  and  grand- 
father before  him  had  met  their  death  while 
out  on  the  hunt,  not  even  the  offer  of  a  fortune 
would  tempt  him  to  change  his  vocation.  The 
bag  which  he  carried  with  him  he  called  his 
winding-sheet,  because  he  felt  sure  he  would 
never  have  any  other.  Two  years  afterwards 
he  was  found  dead  at  the  foot  of  a  precipice. 

The  bouquetin,  or  steinbock,  once  abundant 
throughout  the  greater  part  of  the  Alps,  is  now 
confined  to  certain  parts  where  it  is  preserved 
by  the  King  of  Italy.  De  Saussure  observes 
that  in  his  time  they  had  ceased  to  be  found 
near  Chamouni.  Its  whole  build  is  remarkably 
strong,  giving  it  quite  a  different  appearance 
from    the    slender   and   graceful    chamois. 

The  roe,  the  fallow  deer,  and  the  red 
deer  have,  it  is  said,  quite  disappeared  from 
the  French  and  Swiss  Alps,  but  all  of  them 
occur  in  the  Bavarian  and  Austrian  highlands. 
They  frequent  the  forests  which  clothe  the 
lower  slopes,  and  do  not  often  wander  into 
the  more  rocky  districts.  The  wild  boar  only 
now  and  then  appears  across  the  Rhine,  al- 
though it    is  common  in  the  Subalpine  forests 


134  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

farther  east ;  but  we  can  hardly  consider  it  a 
true  Alpine  quadruped. 

Passing  on  to  the  birds  which  frequent  the 
Alps,  we  must  first  notice  the  bearded  vulture, 
the  lammergeier  of  the  Germans,  which  once 
was  common,  but  now  only  holds  its  own  here 
and  there  in  some  lonely  mountain  fastness. 
Although  preferring  living  prey  to  carrion, 
still  in  many  ways  it  is  closely  allied  to  the 
true  vulture.  The  upper  part  of  the  body  is 
a  greyish-brown  hue,  the  under  side  white, 
tinged  with  reddish  brown.  The  nest,  built  on 
a  high  ledge  of  rock,  consists  of  straw  and 
fern,  resting  on  sticks,  on  which  are  placed 
branches  lined  with  moss  and  down.  It  is  a 
rare  thing  for  the  traveller  to  obtain  a  view 
of  this  monarch  of  the  Alpine  birds.  Like  the 
true  vulture,  its  digestive  powers  are  marvel- 
lous. According  to  Tschudi  ("  Les  Alpes  "),  the 
stomach  of  one  of  these  birds  was  found  to 
contain  five  fragments  of  a  cow's  rib,  a  mass 
of  matted  wool  and  hair,  and  the  leg  of  a  kid 
perfect  from  the  knee  downwards.  Another 
had  bolted  a  fox's  rib  fifteen  inches  long,  as  well 
as  the  brush,  besides  a  number  of  bones  and 
other    indigestible    parts    of    smaller    animals, 


Mountain  Plants  and  Animals.        135 

which  were  slowly  being  eaten  away  by  the 
gastric  juice.  Sheep,  goats,  full-grown  chamois, 
and  smaller  quadrupeds  are  eagerly  devoured 
by  this  voracious  bird.  It  is  said  to  be  bold 
enough  to  attack  a  man,  when  it  finds  him 
asleep  or  climbing  in  any  dangerous  place. 
Tschudi,  in  his  book  on  the  Alps,  gives  sev- 
eral instances  of  young  children  being  carried 
off.  One  of  these  happened  in  the  Bernese 
Oberland,  as  follows :  Two  peasants,  making 
hay  upon  the  pastures,  had  taken  with  them 
their  daughter  Anna,  a  child  about  three  years 
old.  She  quickly  fell  asleep  on  the  turf  near 
the  hay  chalet ;  so  the  father  put  his  broad- 
brimmed  hat  over  her  face,  and  went  to  work 
some  little  way  off.  On  his  return  with  a  load 
of  hay  the  child  was  gone;  and  a  brief  search 
showed  that  she  was  nowhere  near  Just  at  this 
time  a  peasant  walking  along  a  rough  path  in 
the  glen  was  startled  by  the  cry  of  a  child,  and 
going  towards  the  place  whence  it  came,  saw  a 
lammergeier  rise  from  a  neighbouring  summit  and 
hover  for  some  time  over  a  precipice.  On  climb- 
ing thither  in  all  haste,  he  found  the  child  lying 
on  the  very  brink.  She  was  but  little  injured  ; 
some  scratches  were  found  on  her  hands  and  on 


136  The  Story  of  the  Hills, 

the  left  arm,  by  which  she  had  been  seized ;  and 
she  had  been  carried  more  than  three  quarters  of 
a  mile  through  the  air.  She  lived  to  a  good  old 
age,  and  was  always  called  the  Geier-Anna,  or 
Vulture's  Annie,  in  memory  of  her  escape.  The 
particulars  are  inscribed  in  the  registers  of  the 
parish  of  Habkeren. 

The  golden  eagle  is  not  uncommon  in  most 
parts  of  the  Alps,  although  travellers  rarely 
obtain  a  near  view.  It  is  said  to  be  very  fond  of 
hares,  chasing  and  capturing  them  very  cleverly. 
As  in  Great  Britain,  it  is  accused  of  carrying  off 
children ;  but  this  is  at  least  doubtful.  The 
kite,  buzzard  and  falcon  are  occasionally  seen. 
There  are  at  least  ten  species  of  owls,  among 
which  is  the  magnificent  eagle-owl.  The  raven 
is  found  in  the  lonelier  glens,  and  is  often 
tamed.  Its  thieving  propensities  are  very 
amusing.  Alpine  birds  of  prey  correspond  very 
closely  with  British.  The  jackdaw  is  also  com- 
mon. It  would  be  impossible  within  our  short 
limits  to  give  a  complete  list  of  Swiss  birds,  but 
we  may  mention  among  others  the  nutcracker, 
the  jay,  the  white-breasted  swift,  the  wheatear, 
the  common  black  redstart,  the  beautiful  wall- 
creeper,  and  the    snow-finch,  which  mounts  to 


Mountain  Plants  and  Animals.       137 

the  borders  of  the  snow  Of  garne-birds  we 
may  mention  the  capercailze,  the  black  grouse, 
and  the  hazel  grouse,  all  of  which  are  common 
in  many  of  the  forests  The  ptarmigan  haunts 
the  stony  tracts  on  the  borders  of  perpetual 
snow.  In  winter  it  turns  white,  and  in  summer 
greyish -brown,  though  a  good  deal  of  white 
remains. 

Pheasants  and  partridges  cannot  be  said  to  be 
Alpine  birds  ;  but  the  Greek  partridge  may  be 
so  considered. 

Numbers  of  the  mountain  streams  and  tarns 
contain  excellent  trout,  and  most  of  the  larger 
lakes  are  well  stocked  with  fish.  Some  of  the 
trout  of  the  Swiss  and  Italian  lakes  are  of  great- 
size.  The  pike  frequently  weigh  twelve  to 
fifteen  pounds. 

Reptiles  are  not  numerous.  The  common  frog, 
which  is  said  to  be  found  as  high  as  ten  thousand 
feet  above  the  sea,  swarms  in  some  parts  of  the 
Rhone  Valley.  Of  true  lizards,  five  species  have 
been  recognized.  The  blind-worm  (which  is  not 
a  snake),  so  common  on  many  of  our  English 
heaths,  is  often  met  with.  Among  the  true 
snakes  we  find  the  English  ringed  snake  —  quite 
harmless  —  and  two  adders.     The  common  ad- 


138  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

der  is  found  at  a  height  of  seven  thousand  feet 
above  the  sea. 

Lower  forms  of  life  not  possessing  a  back- 
bone (invertebrates)  abound  in  this  region ;  but 
they  are  far  too  numerous  to  be  considered  here. 
Butterflies  and  moths  are  abundant ;  and  many 
of  those  which  are  rare  in  England  are  common 
in  the  Alps,  so  that  the  entomologist  finds  a 
happy  hunting-ground.  The  beautiful  swallow- 
tail and  the  handsome  apollo,  coppers,  painted 
ladies,  fritillaries,  and  many  other  Lepidoptera 
thrive  in  these  regions,  and  are  less  easily 
frightened  than  at  home  in  England. 


PART  II. 


HOW  THE  MOUNTAINS  WERE  MADE. 


$att  II. 

HOW   THE   MOUNTAINS   WERE   MADE. 


CHAPTER  V. 

HOW  THE  MATERIALS  WERE    BROUGHT  TOGETHER. 

These  changes  in  the  heavens,  though  slow,  produce 

Like  change  on  sea  and  land. 

Milton 

Probably  every  mountain  climber,  resting  for 
a  brief  space  on  a  loose  boulder,  or  seeking  the 
shade  of  some  overhanging  piece  of  rock, 
has  often  asked  himself,  u  How  were  all 
these  rocks  made  ?  '  The  question  must  occur 
again  and  again  to  any  intelligent  person  on 
visiting  a  mountain  for  the  first  time,  or  even 
on  seeing  a  mountain-range  in  the  distance. 
He  may  well  ask  his  companions  how  these 
great  ramparts  of  the  earth  were  built  up.  But 
unless  he  possesses  some  knowledge  of  the  science 
of  geology,  which  tells  of  the  manifold  changes 
which  in  former  ages  have  taken  place  on  the 
earth,  or  unless,  in  the  absence  of   such   know- 


142  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

ledge,  he  chance  to  meet  with  a  geologist,  his 
question  probably  remains  unanswered.  Such 
questions,  however,  can  be  very  satisfactorily 
answered,  —  thanks  to  the  labours  of  zealous 
seekers  after  truth,  who  have  given  the  best 
part  of  their  lives  to  studying  the  rocks  which 
are  found  everywhere  on  the  surface  of  the 
earth,  and  the  changes  they  undergo.  Geol- 
ogy is  a  truly  English  science ;  and  Englishmen 
may  well  cherish  gratefully  the  memories  of  its 
pioneers,  —  Hutton,  Playfair,  Lyell,  and  others, 
who  have  made  the  way  so  clear  for  future 
explorers. 

The  story  of  the  hills  as  written  on  their  own 
rocky  tablets  and  on  the  very  boulders  lying 
loose  on  their  sloping  sides,  and  interpreted  by 
geologists,  is  a  long  one ;  for  it  takes  us  far  back 
into  the  dim  ages  of  the  past,  and  like  the 
fashionable  novel,-  may  be  divided  into  three 
parts,  or  volumes.  To  those  who  follow  the 
stony  science  it  is  quite  as  fascinating  as  a  mod- 
ern romance,  and  a  great  deal  more  wonderful, 
thus  illustrating  the  force  of  the  old  saying, 
"  Truth  is  stranger  than  fiction." 

The  three  parts  of  our  story  may  be  best 
expressed  by  the  three  following  inquiries : 


How  the  Materials  were  brought  together.    143 

I.  How  were  the  materials  of  which  mountains  are 
built  up  brought  together  and  made  into  hard  rock  ? 

II.  How  were  they  raised  up  into  the  elevated  po- 
sitions in  which  we  now  find  them  ? 

III.  How  were  they  carved  out  into  all  their  won- 
derful and  beautiful  features  of  crag  and  precipice, 
peaks  and  passes  ? 

A  mountain  group,  with  its  central  peak  or 
spire,  its  long  ridges,  steep  walls,  towers,  but- 
tresses, dark  hollows,  and  carved  pinnacles 
standing  out  against  the  sky,  has  well  been 
■  compared  to  a  great  and  stately  building  such 
as  a  cathedral  or  a  temple.  Mountains  are 
indeed  "  a  great  and  noble  architecture,  giving 
first  shelter,  comfort,  and  rest,  but  covered 
also  with  mighty  sculpture  and  painted  legend  ;" 
and  to  many  they  are  Nature's  shrines,  where 
men  may  offer  their  humble  praises  and  prayers 
to  the  great  Architect  who  reared  them  for  His 
children.  We  have  introduced  this  illustration 
because  it  will  help  us  in  our  inquiry.  Suppose 
we  were  standing  in  front  of  some  great  cathe- 
dral, such  as  Milan,  with  all  its  marble  pinnacles, 
or  Notre  Dame,  with  its  stately  towers,  or  the 
minsters  of  York  or  Durham  in  our  own  coun- 
try, and  trying  to  picture  to  ourselves  how  it  was 


144  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

built.  No  one  has  lived  long  enough  to  watch 
the  completion  of  one  of  these  great  buildings  ; 
but  for  all  that,  we  know  pretty  well  how  it  was 
made,  even  by  watching  the  builder's  operations 
for  a  short  time,  or  by  following,  as  we  often 
may,  the  various  stages  in  the  construction  of  a 
small  house.  So  it  is  with  Nature's  work.  We 
cannot,  in  our  little  lives,  witness  the  rearing  of 
a  great  mountain-chain,  or  even  the  carving  of  a 
single  hill ;  but  we  can  observe  for  ourselves  the 
slow  and  continuous  operations  which  in  the 
course  of  thousands  and  thousands  of  years 
produce  such  stupendous  results.  We  may  learn 
how  the  building  operations  are  conducted, 
though  the  final  results  will  only  be  manifested 
in  the  far-distant  future. 

But  to  return  to  our  cathedral.  If  we  try  to 
picture  to  ourselves  the  long  years  during  which 
it  was  covered  with  scaffolding  and  surrounded 
by  a  busy  army  of  workers,  we  shall  soon  per- 
ceive that  the  operations  may  be  broadly  divided 
into  three  heads.  First,  we  must  inquire  how 
the  separate  stones  of  which  it  is  composed  were 
brought  together  into  one  place,  and  we  shall  at 
once  picture  to  ourselves  groups  of  men  working 
in  stone-quarries,  —  perhaps  a  long  way  off,  — 


How  the  Materials  were  brought  together.    145 

busy  with  their  crowbars  and  hammers,  breaking 
off  large  blocks  of  stone,  and  following  the  natural 
divisions  of  the  rock  that  their  rough  labour  may 
be  lessened ;  for  all  rocks  will  split  more  easily 
along  certain  lines  than  along  others.  Some- 
times it  is  easier  to  follow  the  "  bedding,"  or 
natural  lavers  in  which  the  rock  was  formed  ;  at 
other  times  the  "  joints,"  or  cracks  subsequently 
formed  as  the  rocky  materials  hardened  and  con- 
tracted in  bulk,  afford  easier  lines  for  the  work- 
men to  follow.  Others  are  busily  engaged  in 
placing  the  stony  blocks  on  trollies  drawn  by 
horses,  that  they  may  be  borne  along  the  roads 
leading  from  the  quarry  to  the  site  of  the  future 
cathedral.  And  so,  taking  a  bird's-eye  view,  we 
seem  to  see  horses  and  carts  slowly  moving  on 
from  many  a  distant  quarry,  but  all  converging 
like  the  branches  of  a  river  to  one  main  channel, 
and  finally  depositing  their  burdens  in  the  stone- 
yard  where  the  masons  are  at  work.  Perhaps 
bricks  are  partly  employed,  in  which  case  we  can 
easily  picture  to  ourselves  the  brickyards,  where 
some  are  digging  out  the  soft  clay,  others  mould- 
ing it  into  bricks  with  wooden  moulds,  while 
others  again  lay  them  down  in  rows  on  the 
ground  to  dry,   before  they  are  baked    in  the 

10 


146  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

ovens.  And  when  the  bricks  are  ready  for 
use,  the  same  means  of  transportation  are  em- 
ployed ;  and  cart-loads  of  them  are  borne  along 
the  country  roads  until  they  so  reach  their 
destination. 

Now,  all  this  may  be  summed  up  in  the  one 
word  "  transportation ;"  and  we  shall  presently 
inquire  how  the  rocky  matter  of  which  the 
mountains  are  built  was  transported. 

Seco7idly.  We  have  to  inquire  how  the  bricks 
and  stones  were  raised  up.  The  analogy  is  not 
quite  perfect  in  this  case ;  for  the  mountains  were 
raised  up  en  bloc,  not  bit  by  bit  and  stone  by 
stone,  as  in  the  case  of  the  cathedral.  Still  they 
have  been  raised  somehow.  Analogies  are  sel- 
dom complete  in  every  detail ;  but  for  all  that, 
our  illustration  serves  well  enough,  and  will  help 
us  in  following  the  various  processes  of  moun- 
tain building.  In  these  days,  the  raising  of  the 
stones  is  mostly  effected  by  steam-power  applied 
to  big  cranes  and  pulleys.  In  old  days  they 
used  cranes  and  pulleys,  but  the  ropes  were 
pulled  by  hand-power.  In  either  case  the 
work  proceeds  slowly  ;  and  we  can  easily  pic- 
ture to  ourselves  the  daily  raising  of  the  stones 
of   which  the  cathedral  is  composed.      "  What 


How  the  Materials  were  brought  together.    147 

were  the  forces  at  work  which  slowly  raised 
the  mountains  ? '  This  question  we  will  en- 
deavour to  answer  later  on  (see  next  chapter). 
This  work  may  be  included  in  the  one  word, 
"  elevation." 

And  lastly.  We  must  inquire  how  the  carv- 
ing of  the  stately  building  was  effected,  how  its 
pinnacles  received  their  shape,  and  how  all  those 
lovely  details  received  their  final  forms ;  how 
the  intricate  traceries  of  its  windows  were  made, 
and  the  statues  carved  which  adorn  its  solemn 
portals.  This  question  is  easily  answered,  for 
we  are  all  more  or  less  familiar  with  what 
goes  on  in  a  stone-mason's  yard.  Under  those 
wooden  sheds  we  see  a  number  of  skilled  labour- 
ers at  work,  busy  with  their  chisels  and  mallets, 
cutting  out,  according  to  the  patterns  made 
from  the  architect's  detailed  drawings,  the  por- 
tions of  tracery  for  windows,  or  the  finials, 
crockets,  and  other  features  of  the  future 
building.  In  another  part  of  the  yard  may 
be  seen  the  stone-cutters,  wTorking  in  pairs  and 
slowly  pulling  backwards  and  forwards  those 
long  saws  which,  with  the  help  of  water 
and  sand,  in  time  cut  through  the  biggest 
blocks.     All  this  work  then  may   be  summed 


148  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

up  under  the  one  word,  "  ornamentation,"  for  it 

includes  the  cutting  and  carving  of  the  stone. 

Our   three   lines   of    inquiry    may    now    be 

summed   up   in   these  three  words,    which  are 

easily  remembered :  — 

Transportation, 

Elevation, 

Ornamentation. 

Taking  the  first  of  these  subjects  for  con- 
sideration in  the  present  chapter,  we  have 
now  to  inquire  into  the  nature  of  the  materi- 
als of  which  mountains  are  composed  and  the 
means  by  which  they  have  been  brought  to- 
gether and  compacted  into  hard  rock. 

First,  with  regard  to  the  nature  of  the  ma- 
terials which  Mother  Earth  uses  to  build  her 
rocky  ramparts :  they  are  the  same  as  the 
ordinary  rocks  of  which  the  earth's  crust  is 
composed;  and  the  greater  part  of  them  have 
been  formed  by  the  action  of  water.  These 
are  the  ordinary  "  stratified '  rocks,  which  in 
one  form  or  another  meet  us  almost  every- 
where, and  may  be  said  to  be  aqueous  de- 
posits, or  sediments  formed  in  seas  and  inland 
lakes.  They  are  always  arranged  in  layers, 
known  to  geologists  as  "  strata/'  because  they 


How  the  Materials  were  brought  together.    149 

have  been  gently  laid  down,  or  strewn  (Latin, 
stratum),  at  the  bottom  of  some  large  body  of 
water.  There  were  pauses  in  the  deposition 
of  the  materials,  during  which  each  layer  had 
time  to  harden  a  little  before  the  next  one 
was  formed.  This  accounts  for  the  stratifica- 
tion. In  this  way  great  deposits  of  sand- 
stone, clay,  and  limestone,  with  their  numerous 
varieties,  have  been  in  the  course  of  ages 
gradually  piled  up,  till  they  have  attained  to 
enormous  thickness,  which  at  first  sight  seem 
almost  incredible ;  but  the  bed  of  the  seas 
in  which  they  formed  was  probably  under- 
going a  slow  sinking  process  that  kept  pace 
with  the  growth  of  these  deposits,  other- 
wise the  sea  might  have  been  more  or  less 
filled  up. 

And  these  processes  are  still  going  on.  In 
fact,  it  is  entirely  by  watching  what  goes  on 
now  that  geologists  are  able  to  explain  what 
took  place  a  very  long  time  ago  when  there 
were  no  human  beings  on  the  earth  to  record 
the  events  that  took  place.  And  so  we  argue 
from  the  present  to  the  past,  from  the  known 
to  the  unknown.  In  other  words,  geology  is 
based   upon    physical     geography,    which    tells 


150  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

us  of  the  changes  now  in  progress  on  the 
earth.  Thus,  sandstone,  as  frequently  met 
with  in  different  parts  of  Great  Britain,  and 
largely  used  for  building  purposes,  such  as  the 
familiar  old  red  sandstone1  of  South  Wales, 
Hereford,  and  the  north  of  England  and  dif- 
ferent parts  of  Scotland,  was  once  soft  sand 
in  no  way  at  all  different  from  the  sand  of 
the  seashore  at  the  present  day,  or  of  the 
sandy  bed  of  the  North  Sea.  In  process  of 
time  it  became  hardened,  and  acquired  its 
characteristic  red  colour,  which  is  due  to  ox- 
ide of  iron.  In  some  places  numerous  fossil 
fishes  have  been  discovered  in  this  interesting 
formation,  so  intimately  associated  with  the 
name  of  Hugh  Miller,  who  first  thoroughly 
explored  it;  these  and  other  remains  entombed 
therein  tell  us  of  the  strange  forms  of  life 
which  flourished  on  the  earth  during  that  very 
old-fashioned  period  of  the  world's  history ; 
and  by  putting  together  all  kinds  of  evi- 
dences derived  from  the  rock  itself,  geologists 
are    able   to   form   a   very   good    idea   of    the 

1  The  reader  will  find  an  account  of  the  old  red  sandstone 
in  the  writer's  "  Autobiography  of  the  Earth  "  (Edward  Stan- 
ford, 1890). 


How  the  Materials  were  brought  together.    151 

way  in  which  this  rock-deposit  was  accumu- 
lated, always,  however,  basing  their  conclu- 
sions on  a  thorough  knowledge  of  what  goes 
on  at  the  present  day  in  seas,  rivers,  and  in- 
land lakes. 

In  the  great  series  of  stratified  rocks  form- 
ing what  is  commonly  called  the  crust  of  the 
earth  (an  unfortunate  term  which  has  sur- 
vived from  the  time  when  the  interior  of  the 
earth  was  generally  believed  to  be  in  a  fiery 
molten  condition,  and  covered  by  a  thin  coat- 
ing of  solid  rock  at  the  surface),  there  are 
besides  the  sandstones,  of  which  we  have  just 
spoken,  great  deposits  of  dark-coloured  clays, 
shales,  and  slates.  All  these  can  be  accounted 
for  by  the  geologist.  They  are  simply  dif- 
ferent states  of  what  was  once  soft  mud. 
The  slates  tell  us  that  they  have  been  sub- 
jected to  very  severe  pressure,  which  squeezed 
their  particles  till  they  were  elongated  and 
all  arranged  in  one  direction,  and  this  is  the 
reason  why  they  split  up  into  thin  sheets. 

Others,  again,  represent  vast  deposits  of  car- 
bonate of  lime,  thousands  of  feet  thick  and 
now  occupying  hundreds  of  square  miles  of 
the   earth's   surface.     Limestone   rocks   are    as 


152  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

abundant  in  our  own  country  as  the  sand- 
stones, shales,  or  slates.  The  chalk  of  which 
the  North  and  South  Downs  are  composed  is 
a  familiar  example.  It  is  seen  again  forming 
Salisbury  Plain,  in  Hampshire  and  the  Isle 
of  Wight,  and  then  it  may  be  traced  running 
up  the  country  in  a  long  band  through  the 
counties  of  Oxford,  Cambridge,  Lincoln,  until 
it  reaches  the  coast  at  Flamborough  Head  in 
Yorkshire.  Then  we  have  the  Bath  Oolites 
so  much  used  in  building,  for  they  form 
an  admirable  "  freestone '  that  can  be  easily 
carved  and  cut  in  any  direction  (hence  the 
term  "freestone");  and  lastly,  the  great 
mountain  limestone  so  well  developed  in  South 
Wales,  Yorkshire,  and  the  Lake  country.  All 
these  were  slowly  built  up  at  the  bottom  of 
the  seas  which  existed  in  past  ages;  great 
beds  of  gravel  formed  at  the  mouths  of  rivers, 
and  long  banks  of  pebbles  and  rounded  stones 
collected  on  the  shore  of  primeval  seas,  and 
were  ground  against  each  other  as  now  by 
the  action  of  the  waves,  until  all  their  cor- 
ners were  rubbed  off.  Pebble-beds,  called  by 
geologists  conglomerates,  are  met  with  among 
the  stratified  rocks ;    and  their  story  is  easily 


How  the  Materials  were  brought  together.    153 

read    by    studying    what    takes    place    at    the 
present  day  on  our  seashores. 

Now,  the  sandstones,  clays,  gravels,  and  peb- 
ble-beds all  represent,  as  will  presently  be  ex- 
plained, so  much  material  worn  away  from 
the  surface  of  the  land  and  swept  into  the 
ocean  (or  in  some  cases  into  inland  seas  and 
lakes)  by  streams  and  rivers,  which  are  the 
great  transporting  agents  of  the  world.  Hence 
such  deposits  of  debris,  supplied  by  the  con- 
stant wear  and  tear  of  all  rocks  exposed  to 
the  atmosphere,  are  truly  sedimentary  and 
have  a  purely  mechanical  origin.  But  it  is 
not  so  with  the  limestones.  The  latter  were 
never  transported,  but  grew  at  the  bottom  of 
the  sea  in  very  wonderful  ways.  They  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  wear  and  tear  of  the 
land  to  which  the  others  owe  their  existence, 
but  represent  vast  quantities  of  carbonate  of 
lime  extracted  from  sea  water.  Sea  water 
contains  a  certain  amount  of  this  substance 
in  a  dissolved  state,  or  "  in  solution,"  as  a 
chemist  would  say;  and  the  way  in  which 
this  is  extracted  by  the  agency  of  various 
creatures,  such  as  coral  polypes  and  little  mi- 
croscopic creatures   that   build   their   shells   of 


154  The  Story  of  the  Hitls. 

carbonate  of  lime,  of  great  beauty,  forms  one 
of  the  most  interesting  subjects  presented  to 
the  student  of  physical  geography.  Hence, 
since  limestone  can  only  be  accounted  for  by 
the  agency  of  living  organisms,1  it  is  rightly 
termed  an  organic  deposit,  and  the  others  are 
said  to  be  mechanical  deposits.  But  both  are 
called  "  aqueous  rocks,"  because  they  are 
formed  under  water.  It  is  important  to  dis- 
tinguish clearly  between  these  two  very  dif- 
ferent methods  of  rock-formation. 

But  although  water  plays  such  a  very  impor- 
tant part  in  the  making  of  the  common  rocks 
around  us,  yet  there  are  others  which  have 
quite  a  different  origin,  —  rocks  which  have 
come  up  from  below  the  surface  of  the  earth 
in  a  heated  and  molten  condition,  such  as  the 
lavas  that  flow  from  volcanoes  in  active  erup- 
tions and  the  showers  of  ashes  and  fine  volcanic 
dust  which  often  attend  such  eruptions  (see  chap, 
viii.,  pp.  271-272).  Some  highly  heated  rocks, 
though  they  never  rise  to  the  surface  to  form 
lava-flows,  are  forced  up  with  overwhelming 
pressure  from  below,  and  wedge  themselves  into 

1  The  flints  usually  found  in  limestone   are  also  of  organic 


origin. 


How  the  Materials  were  brought  together.    155 

the  sedimentary  rocks  that  overlie  them,  thus 
forming  what  are  known  as  volcanic  dykes,  and 
intrusive  masses  or  sheets  of  once  molten  rock. 
In  this  category  we  include  such  rocks  as  basalt, 
felstone,  pitchstone,  and  other  rocks  of  fiery 
origin  that  have  flowed  from  volcanoes  as  lava, 
as  well  as  those  like  granite,  which  have  cooled 
and  become  solid  below  the  surface,  and  are 
Plutonic,  or  deep-seated,  igneous  rocks.  Granite 
may  be  exposed  to  the  surface  of  the  earth  when 
the  rocks  which  once  overlaid  it  have  been  worn 
away  or  "  denuded.' '  It  is  frequently  seen  in 
the  central  regions  of  mountain-chains,  where  a 
vast  amount  of  erosion  has  been  effected.  Thus 
we  see  that  heat  has  played  its  part  in  the  mak- 
ing of  rocks ;  and  for  this  reason  such  rocks  as 
we  have  just  mentioned  are  called  igneous.  Fire 
and  water  are  therefore  very  important  geologi- 
cal agents ;  but  we  should  say  heat  rather  than 
fire,  because  the  latter  word  might  convey  a 
false  impression.  No  rocks  can  be  burned  ex- 
cept coal,  which  may  be  considered  rather  as 
a  mineral  deposit  than  as  a  rock.  Some  rocks 
may  be  heated,  and  undergo  many  and  various 
changes  in  their  mineral  composition ;  but  they 
are  not  capable  of  combustion. 


156  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

So  far,  then,  we  have  learned  that  the  rocks 
exposed  to  view  on  the  surface  of  the  earth 
may  be  divided  into  two  classes ;  that  is,  aqueous 
and  igneous.  There  is  yet  a  third  class,  which, 
though  of  aqueous  origin,  has  in  course  of  time 
suffered  considerable  from  the  internal  heat 
of  the  earth  and  the  enormous  pressure  due  to 
the  weight  of  overlying  rocks.  Such  rocks 
have  been  greatly  changed  from  their  original 
condition,  both  in  appearance  and  in  mineral 
composition,  and  are  said  to  be  "  metamorphic," 
a  word  which  implies  change.  Thus  chalk,  or 
other  limestone  rock,  has  been  metamorphosed 
into  marble ;  shales  and  slates  into  various 
kinds  of  "  schists,' ' l  such  as  mica-schist,  and 
even  into  gneiss,  which  closely  resembles 
granite.  And  it  is  quite  possible  that  even 
granite  may  in  some  cases  be  the  result  of 
the  melting  and  consolidation  under  great  pres- 
sure of  certain  familiar  stratified  rocks.  It  is 
quite  conceivable  that  slate  might  be  converted 
into  granite,  for  their  chemical  composition  is 

1  Schists  are  so  named  from  their  property  of  splitting  into 
thin  layers.  Their  structure  is  crystalline ;  and  the  layers,  or 
folia,  consist  usually  of  two  or  more  minerals,  but  sometimes  of 
only  one.  Thus  mica-schist  consists  of  quartz  and  mica,  each 
arranged  in  many  folia,  but  it  splits  along  the  layers  of  mica. 


How  the  Materials  were  brought  together.    157 


similar,  only  the  minerals  of  which  it  is  com- 
posed would  require  to  be  rearranged  and 
grouped  into  new  compounds.  This  would 
seem  quite  possible ;  but  at  present  we  have  no 
direct  proof  of  such  a  change  having  taken 
place.  Even  igneous  rocks  are  found  in  some 
places  to  have  suffered  very  considerable  change. 

In  some  inland  seas,  like  the  Caspian  Sea, 
deposits  of  rock  salt  and  gypsum  may  be  formed 
by  chemical  precipitation,  owing  to  evaporation 
from  the  surface. 

The  various  kinds  of  rock  known  to  geolo- 
gists may  be  conveniently  arranged  as  follows  : 

f  Clay,  shale,  slate,  etc. 
I.  Sedimentary.  -<  Sandstones. 

(  Conglomerates. 


Rocks  of 

aqueous 

origin. 


Rocks  of 
igneous  origin. 


\ 


II.  Organic. 


III.  Chemical. 


I.  Volcanic. 


II.  Plutonic. 


Metamorphic  rocks 
of  aqueous  and 
igneous  origin. 


(  Limestones. 
1  Flint. 
(  Coal. 

(  Rock  salt. 
(  Gypsum,  etc. 

(  Lavas. 

(  Volcanic  ashes,  etc. 

(  Basalt. 
(  Granite. 

C  Marbles. 

•<  Various  kinds  of  schists. 

(  Gneiss,  etc. 


158  The  Story  of  the  Hills, 

So  far  we  have  only  attempted  to  state  very 
briefly  the  different  kinds  of  rocks,  and  to  point 
out  that  they  were  formed  in  various  ways. 
We  must  now  consider  the  question  of  rock- 
making  more  closely,  and  see  what  we  can  learn 
about  the  wonderful  ways  in  which  rocks  are 
made ;  and  it  may  be  instructive  to  glance  at 
the  conflicting  opinions  on  this  subject  which 
learned  men  held  not  very  long  ago. 

At  the  end  of  the  last  century  a  great  contro- 
versy took  place  on  the  question  of  the  origin 
of  rocks,  and  the  learned  men  of  the  day  were 
divided  into  two  parties.  One  of  these  parties, 
following  the  teaching  of  Werner,  professor  of 
mining  at  Freyburg,  who  inspired  great  enthu- 
siasm among  his  disciples,  declared  that  all  rocks 
were  formed  by  the  agency  of  water.  This  was 
a  very  sweeping  and  of  course  rash  conclusion. 
But  whenever  they  examined  rocks,  they  found 
so  many  clear  evidences  of  the .  action  of  water 
that  a  powerful  impression  of  the  importance 
of  this  agency  was  naturally  made  on  their 
minds.  They  found  rocks  uniformly  arranged 
in  great  layers  which  extended  for  long  dis- 
tances, and  containing  the  remains  of  animals 
which  must  undoubtedly  have  lived  in  the  seas 


How  the  Materials  were  brought  together.    159 

or  estuaries.  These  layers  were  further  divided 
into  smaller  layers,  such  as  clearly  were  formed 
by  the  slow  settling  down  of  sand  and  mud. 
Others  again  contained  gravels  and  rounded 
pebbles,  testifying  in  no  uncertain  way  to  the 
action  of  water.  Even  the  little  grains  of  sand 
are  obviously  water-worn.  This  teaching  was 
quite  sound  so  long  as  they  confined  their  atten- 
tion to  clays,  sandstones,  and  limestones ;  but 
when  they  came  to  basalt  and  granite,  a  blind 
adherence  to  the  views  of  their  master  caused 
them  to  shut  their  eyes  to  the  clear  evidences 
of  the  action  of  heat,  presented  by  such  rocks. 
The  crystalline  structure  of  such  rocks  ;  their 
irregular  arrangement,  often  so  different  from 
the  uniform  disposition  of  the  stratified  rocks 
(although  it  must  be  admitted  that  ancient  lava- 
flows  often  lie  very  evenly  between  aqueous 
rocks),  and  the  way  in  which  they  burst  through 
overlying  rocks,  thus  proving  their  former 
molten  condition  ;  the  signs  of  alteration  ex- 
hibited in  the  aqueous  rocks  into  which  they 
intruded  themselves  (changes  which  are  obvi- 
ously due  to  the  action  of  heat),  —  these  and 
other  evidences  were  entirely  overlooked,  and 
Werner  declared  that  basalt  had  been  found  as 
a  sediment  under  water. 


160  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

This  school  of  geologists,  believing  so  strongly 
in  the  all-powerful  influence  of  Father  Nep- 
tune, received  the  not  inappropriate  title  of 
"  Neptunists." 

On  the  other  hand,  the  party  who  happened 
to  be  in  districts  where  granite,  basalt,  and  such 
igneous  rocks  abounded  were  equally  impressed 
with  the  importance  of  the  powerful  agency  of 
heat.  To  them  nearly  every  rock  they  met  with 
seemed  to  show  some  signs  of  its  action.  And 
since  Pluto  was  the  classical  deity  of  the  lower 
regions,  and  the  earth  shows  evidences  in  places 
of  greater  heat  below  the  surface,  this  party  re- 
ceived the  title  of  "  Plutonists  ;"  and  so  the  battle 
raged  hotly  for  some  time  between  the  Neptun- 
ists, with  their  claims  for  cold  water,  and  the 
fiery  Plutonists  of  the  rival  school  of  Edinburgh, 
with  their  subterranean  heat.  Fire  and  water 
are  never  likely  to  agree  ;  and  they  did  not  do  so 
in  this  case.  But  now  that  the  battle  is  over, 
and  both  sides  are  found  to  have  been  partly 
right  and  partly  wrong,  —  though  the  Neptun- 
ists have  the  advantage,  —  we  can  afford  to 
smile  at  the  fierceness  of  the  contest,  and 
wonder  how  it  was  that  each  side  thought 
they   were  so  entirely  in  the  right. 


How  the  Materials  were  brought  together.    161 

Let  us  now  consider  the  aqueous  rocks,  and 
see  if  we  can  gain  a  clear  idea  of  the  ways  in 
which  they  were  formed  ;  and  first,  we  will 
take  those  of  a  purely  sedimentary  origin,  — 
the  sandstones,  pebble-beds,  gravels,  and  clays. 
These,  as  the  reader  has  already  probably 
guessed,  have  all  been  transported  by  means 
of  streams  and  rivers,  and  settled  down  quietly 
in  seas  at  the  mouths  of  rivers  or  in  inland 
lakes.  There  is  no  trace  of  the  action  of  heat 
in  the  forming  of  these  rocks,  though  they 
often  show  signs  of  having  suffered  more  or 
less  change  from  contact  with  highly  heated 
igneous  rocks  of  later  date  which  forcibly  in- 
truded themselves  from  below ;  and  if  the 
change  thus  effected  were  considerable,  we 
should  call  the  rocks  so  altered  metamorphic. 
But  we  are  now  dealing  with  their  original 
state  and  how  they  were  made ;  and  of  that 
there  is  no  possible  doubt  whatever.  So  for  the 
time  being  we  may  call  ourselves  Neptunists. 

Streams  and  rivers  are  the  great  transporting 
agents  whereby  the  never-failing  supply  of  de- 
bris from  the  waste  of  the  land  is  unceasingly 
brought    down    from  the  mountains  and    hills, 

through  the  broad  valleys  and  along  the  great 

11 


162  The  Story  of  the  Hit  Is. 

plains,  until  finally  it  is  flung  into  the  sea.  The 
sea  is  the  workshop  where  all  the  sedimentary 
rocks  are  slowly  manufactured  from  the  raw 
material  brought  to  it  by  the  rivers.  But  for 
the  present  we  must  confine  our  attention  to 
the  question  of  transport.  Referring  back  to 
our  illustration  of  the  cathedral,  we  may  say 
that  streams  and  rivers  play  the  part  of  cart 
and  horses.  They  bring  the  materials  down 
from  the  quarry  to  the  scene  of  action,  —  the 
workshop  where  they  are  wanted.  The  quar- 
ries, in  this  case,  may  be  said  to  be  almost 
everywhere.  For  wherever  rocks  and  soil  are 
exposed  to  the  action  of  wind  and  weather, 
there  is  certain  to  be  more  or  less  decay  and 
crumbling  away.  But  it  is  among  the  hills  and 
in  the  higher  parts  of  the  mountains  that  the 
forces  of  destruction  are  most  active.  How  this 
is  brought  about  will  be  discussed  in  the  seventh 
chapter, »on  the  carving  of  the  hills.  The  fre- 
quent slopes  covered  with  loose  stones  are 
sufficient  evidence  of  the  continual  destruc- 
tion   that   takes    place    in    these    regions. 

The  transporting  powers  of  rivers  are  truly 
prodigious.  Looking  at  a  stream  or  river  after 
heavy  rain,  we  see  its  waters  heavily  laden  with 


How  the  Materials  were  brought  together.    163 

mud  and  sand ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  realise  from 
a  casual  glance  the  vast  amount  of  material 
that  is  thus  brought  down  to  lower  levels.  If 
we  could  trace  the  sediment  to  its  source,  we 
must  seek  it  among  the  rocks  of  mountains  far 
away.  Step  by  step  we  may  trace  it  up  along 
the  higher  courses  of  the  river,  then  along 
mountain  streams  rushing  over  their  rocky 
beds,  tumbling  in  cascades  over  broken  rocks, 
or  leaping  in  waterfalls  over  higher  projections 
of  rock,  until  we  come  to  the  deep  furrows  on 
the  sides  of  mountains  along  which  loose  frag- 
ments of  rock  come  tumbling  down  with  the 
cascades  of  water  that  run  along  these  steep 
channels  after  heavy  rain,  leaving  at  the  base 
of  the  mountain  great  fan-shaped  heaps  of 
stones. 

"Oft  both  slope  and  hill  are  torn 
Where  wintry  torrents  down  have  borne, 
And  heaped  upon  the  cumbered  land 
Its  wreck  of  gravel,  rocks,  and  sand." 

These  accumulations  are  gradually  carried 
away  by  the  larger  mountain  streams,  which 
in  hurrying  them  along  cause  a  vast  amount 
of  wear  and  tear ;  so  that  their  corners  are  worn 
off,  and  they  get  further  and  further  reduced  in 


164  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

size,  becoming  mere  round  pebbles  lining  the 
bed  of  the  stream,  and  finally  by  the  time  they 
reach  the  large  slow-moving  rivers  of  the  plains 
are  mainly  reduced  to  tiny  specks  of  mud  or 
grains  of  sand.  So  then  the  rivers  and  streams 
not  only  transport  sediment,  but  they  manufac- 
ture it  as  they  go  along.  x\nd  thus  they  may 
be  considered  as  great  grinding-mills,  where 
large  pieces  of  stone  go  in  at  one  end,  and 
only  fine  sand  and  mud  come  out  at  the 
other. 

The  amount  of  land  debris  thus  transported 
depends  partly  on  the  carrying  power  of  rivers, 
which  varies  with  the  seasons  and  the  annual 
rainfall ;  partly  on  the  size  of  the  area  drained 
by  a  river ;  and  again,  partly  on  the  nature  of 
the  rocks  of  which  that  area  is  composed. 

A  stream,  moving  along  at  the  rate  of  about 
half  a  mile  (880  yards)  an  hour,  which  is  a  slow 
rate,  can  carry  along  ordinary  sandy  soil  sus- 
pended in  a  cloud-like  fashion  in  the  water; 
when  moving  at  the  rate  of  two  thirds  of  a  mile 
(about  1,173  yards)  an  hour,  it  can  roll  fine 
gravel  along  its  bed ;  but  when  the  rate  increases 
to  a  yard  in  a  second,  or  a  little  more  than  two 
miles  an  hour,  it  can  sweep  along  angular  stones 


How  the  Materials  were  brought  together,    165 

as  large  as  an  egg.  But  streams  often  flow  much 
faster  than  this,  and  so  do  rivers  when  swollen 
by  heavy  rain. 

A  rapid  torrent  often  flows  at  the  rate  of 
eighteen  or  twenty  miles  an  hour,  and  then 
we  may  hear  the  stones  rattling  against  each 
other  as  they  are  irresistibly  rolled  onward ; 
and  during  very  heavy  floods,  huge  masses  of 
rock  as  large  as  a  house  have  been  known 
to  be  moved. 

These  are  the  two  principal  ways  in  which 
streams  and  rivers  act  as  transporting  agents : 
they  carry  the  finer  materials  in  a  suspended  state 
(though  partly  drifting  it  along  their  beds) ;  and 
they  push  the  coarser  materials,  such  as  gravel, 
bodily  along.  But  there  is  one  other  way  in 
which  they  carry  on  the  important  work  of 
transportation,  which,  being  unseen,  might  easily 
escape  our  notice.  Every  spring  is  busily  em- 
ployed in  bringing  up  to  the  surface  mineral 
substances  which  the  water  has  dissolved  out  of 
the  underground  rocks.  This  invisible  material 
finds  its  way,  as  the  springs  do,  to  the  rivers,  and 
so  finally  is  brought  into  that  great  reservoir,  the 
sea.  Rain  and  river  water  also  dissolve  a  certain 
amount  of  mineral  matter  from  rocks  lying  on 


166  The  Story  of  the  Hills, 

the  surface  of  the  earth.  Now,  the  material 
which  is  most  easily  dissolved  is  carbonate  of 
lime.  Hence  if  you  take  a  small  quantity  of 
spring  or  river  water  and  boil  it  until  the  whole 
is  evaporated,  you  will  find  that  it  leaves  behind 
a  certain  amount  of  deposit.  This,  when  ana- 
lysed by  the  chemist,  proves  to  be  chiefly  car- 
bonate of  lime ;  but  it  also  contains  minute 
quantities  of  other  minerals,  such  as  common 
salt,  potash,  soda,  oxide  of  iron,  and  silica,  or 
flint.  All  these  and  other  minerals  are  found 
to  be  present  in  sea  water. 

The  waters  of  some  of  the  great  rivers  of  the 
world  have  been  carefully  examined  at  different 
times,  in  order  to  form  some  idea  of  the  amount 
of  solid  matter  which  they  contain,  both  dissolved 
and  suspended ;  and  the  results  are  extremely 
important  and  interesting,  for  they  enable  us  to 
form  definite  conclusions  with  regard  to  their 
capacity  for  transport.  This  subject  has  been 
investigated  with  great  skill  by  eminent  men  of 
science.  The  problem  is  a  very  complicated  one ; 
but  it  is  easy  to  see  that  if  we  know  roughly  the 
number  of  gallons  of  water  annually  discharged 
into  the  sea  by  a  big  river,  and  the  average 
amount  of  solid  matter  contained  in  such  a  gal- 


How  the  Materials  were  brought  together.    167 

Ion  of  water,  we  have  the  means  of  calculating, 
by  a  simple  process  of  multiplication,  the  amount 
of  solid  matter  annually  brought  down  to  the 
sea  by  that  river.  But  we  must  also  add  the 
amount  of  sand,  gravel,  and  stones  pushed  along 
its  bed.  This  may  be  roughly  estimated  and 
allowed  for.     These  are  some  of  the  results  : 

The  amount  of  solid  matter  discharged  every 
year  by  that  great  river,  the  Mississippi,  if  piled 
up  on  a  single  square  mile  of  the  bed  of  the  sea, 
—  say,  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  where  that  river 
discharges  itself,  —  would  make  a  great  square- 
shaped  pile  268  feet  high.  But  the  Gulf  Stream, 
sweeping  through  this  gulf,  carries  the  materials 
for  many  and  many  a  mile  away  ;  so  that  in 
course  of  time  it  gradually  sinks  and  spreads  it- 
self as  a  fine  film  or  layer  over  part  of  the  great 
Atlantic  Ocean.  The  mud  brought  down  by 
the  great  river  Amazon  spreads  so  far  into  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  as  to  discolour  the  water  even 
at  a  distance  of  three  hundred  miles.  The 
Ganges  and  the  Brahmapootra,  flowing  into  the 
Bay  of  Bengal,  discharge  every  year  into  that 
part  of  the  Indian  Ocean  6,368,000,000  cubic 
feet  of  solid  matter.  This  material  would  in 
one  year  raise  a  space  of  fifteen  square  miles 


168  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

one  foot  in  height.  The  weight  of  mud,  etc., 
that  these  rivers  bring  down  is  sixty  times 
that  of  the  Great  Pyramid  of  Egypt,  or  about 
six  million  tons. 

Or,  to  put  the  matter  in  another  way,  if 
a  fleet  of  more  than  eighty  "  Indiamen,"  each 
with  a  cargo  of  fourteen  hundred  tons  of  solid 
matter,  sailed  down  every  hour,  night  and  day, 
for  four  months,  and  discharged  their  burdens 
into  the  waters  of  the  Indian  Ocean,  they 
would  only  do  what  the  mighty  Ganges  does 
quietly  and  easily  in  the  four  months  of  the 
flood  season. 

It  is  probable  that  even  the  Thames,  a  small 
river  compared  to  those  just  mentioned,  manages 
to  bring  down,  in  one  way  or  another,  fourteen 
million  cubic  feet  of  solid  matter.  These  few 
figures  may  suffice  to  give  the  reader  some  idea 
of  the  enormous  amount  of  rock-forming  mate- 
rials brought  down  to  the  seas  at  the  present 
day. 

Of  course  they  are  spread  out  far  and  wide  by 
the  numerous  ocean  currents,  some  of  which 
flow  for  hundreds  of  miles  ;  and  so  the  bed  of  the 
sea  can  only  be  very  slowly  raised  by  their  ac- 
cumulation.   Still  the  geologist  can  allow  plenty 


How  the  Materials  were  brought  together.    169 

of  time,  for  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  world  is 
immensely  old;  and  if  we  allow  thousands  of 
years,  we  may  easily  comprehend  that  deposits 
of  very  considerable  thickness  may  in  this  way 
accumulate  on  the  floors  of  the  oceans.  Also 
the  coasts  of  continents  and  islands  suffer 
continual  wear  and  tear  at  the  hands  of 
sea  waves;  and  thus  the  supply  of  sediment 
is  increased. 

When  the  geologist  comes  to  study  the  great 
rock-masses  —  hundreds,  and  even  thousands,  of 
feet  in  thickness  —  of  which  mountain-ranges  are 
composed,  he  finds  all  those  kinds  of  rock  which 
we  have  just  been  considering,  —  sandstones, 
shales  (or  hardened  clays),  pebble-beds,  and  lime- 
stones, —  and  endeavours  to  picture  to  himself 
their  gradual  growth  in  the  ways  we  have  de- 
scribed. In  so  doing,  he  is  driven  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  many  thousands  of  years  must  have 
been  occupied  in  their  construction. 

We  must  now  say  a  few  words  about  those 
other  aqueous  rocks  which  have  an  organic  ori- 
gin, of  which  limestone  is  the  chief.  It  is  indeed 
a  startling  conclusion  that  deposits  of  great 
thickness,  and  ranging  for  very  many  miles  over 
the  earth's  surface,  have  been  slowly  built  up 


170  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

through  the  agency  of  marine  animals  extracting 
carbonate  of  lime  from  the  sea.  Yet  such  is 
undoubtedly  the  case.  Of  this  important  pro- 
cess of  rock-building  coral  reefs  are  the  most 
familiar  example.  The  great  barrier  reef  along 
the  northeast  coast  of  Australia  is  about  1,250 
miles  long,  from  ten  to  ninety  miles  in  width, 
and  rises  at  its  seaward  edge  from  depths  which 
in  some  places  certainly  exceed  eighteen  hundred 
feet.  It  may  be  likened  to  a  great  submarine 
wall.  Now,  all  this  solid  masonry  is  the  work 
of  humble  coral  polypes  (not  "  insects  '  ),  build- 
ing up  their  own  internal  frame- work  or  skeleton 
by  extracting  carbonate  of  lime  from  sea  water. 
Then  the  breakers  dashing  against  coral  reefs 
produce,  by  their  grinding  action,  a  great  deal  of 
fine  "  coral-sand  '  and  calcareous  mud,  which 
covers  the  surrounding  bed  of  the  sea  for  many 
miles. 

Now,  geologists  find  that  some  limestone  for- 
mations met  with  in  the  stratified  rocks  have 
certainly  been  formed  in  this  way  ;  for  example, 
certain  parts  of  the  great  "  mountain  limestone." 
This  is  proved  by  the  fossil  corals  it  contains, 
and  by  tracing  the  old  coral  reefs  ;  but  it  is  also 
largely  formed  by  the  remains  of  other  graceful 


How  the  Materials  were  brought  together,    171 

calcareous  creatures  known  as  encrinites,  or 
"  sea-lilies,"  with  long  branching  arms  that 
waved  in  the  clear  water.  Such  creatures  still 
exist  in  some  deeper  parts  of  the  sea,  and  look 
more  like  plants  than  animals.  In  former  ages 
they  existed  in  great  abundance,  and  so  played 
an  important  part  as  rock-formers,  —  for  their 
stems,  branches,  and  all  are  made  of  little  plates 
of  carbonate  of  lime,  beautifully  fitting  together 
like  the  separate  bones,  or  vertebrae,  composing 
the  backbone  of  a  fish  ;  and  when  the  creatures 
died,  these  little  plates  no  longer  held  together, 
but  were  scattered  on  the  floor  of  the  sea-bed. 
Shell-fish  abounded  too,  and  their  shelly  re- 
mains accumulated  into  regular  shell-beds  in 
some  places.  But  at  times  mud  and  sand 
would  come  and  cover  over  all  these  organic 
deposits. 

But  of  all  rocks  that  have  an  organic  origin, 
chalk  is  the  most  interesting.  Geologists  were 
for  a  long  time  puzzled  to  know  how  this  rock 
could  have  been  formed ;  but  some  soundings 
made  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean  previous  to  the 
laying  of  the  first  Atlantic  cable  led  to  a  very 
important  discovery,  which  at  once  threw  a 
flood  of  light  on  the  question.     Samples  of  the 


172  The  Story  of  the  Hills, 

mud  lying  on  the  bed  of  this  ocean  at  consider- 
able distances  from  the  European  and  American 
coasts,  and  at  depths  varying  from  one  thou- 
sand to  three  thousand  fathoms,  were  brought 
up  by  sounding  apparatus. 

Little  was  it  thought  that  the  dull  grey  ooze 
covering  a  large  part  of  the  Atlantic  bed  would 
bring  a  message  from  the  depths  of  the  sea,  and 
furnish  the  answer  to  a  great  geological  problem. 
Yet  such  was  the  case  ;  for  under  the  micro- 
scope this  mud  was  seen  to  be  chiefly  composed 
of  very  minute  and  very  beautiful  shells,  now 
known  as  foramimfera,  and  much  prized  by 
microscopists.  These  tiny  shells  are  found  at  or 
near  the  surface  of  the  sea ;  and  after  the  death 
of  the  creatures  that  inhabit  them  (which  are 
only  lumps  of  protoplasm  with  no  organs  of 
any  kind),  the  shells  slowly  sink  down  to  the 
bed  of  the  ocean.  Now,  these  creatures  multiply 
at  so  inconceivable  a  rate  that  a  continuous 
shower  of  dead  shells  seems  to  be  taking  place, 
and  the  result  is  the  slow  accumulation  over 
vast  areas  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans  of 
a  great  deposit  of  calcareous  ooze,  which  if  raised 
above  the  sea-level  would  harden  into  a  rock 
very  similar  to  chalk. 


7&  ^st-  S£   *a®%&>       &  Si 

s    4s,  rOTT*-     ;'*J3Eu.     ' 


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IT. 


Mtcrophotographs  illustrating  Rock  Formation. 
I.   Foraminifera.       II.   Section  of  Granite.      III.   Nummulitic  Limestone. 


Jii. 


How  the  Materials  were  brought  together.     173 

But  this  process  only  takes  place  in  the 
deeper  parts  of  our  seas,  far  removed  from  land, 
where  the  supply  of  land-derived  materials  fails, 
—  for  even  the  finest  mud  supplied  by  rivers 
probably  all  settles  clown  before  travelling  two 
or  three  hundred  miles  from  its  native  shores. 

Thus  we  learn  that  when  one  agency  fails, 
Nature  makes  use  of  another  to  take  up  the 
important  work  of  rock-building.  How  the 
other  rocks  which  we  mentioned  in  our  list 
were  formed,  —  such  as  granite,  basalt,  and  the 
metamorphic  rocks,  —  we  must  explain  in  a 
future  chapter  dealing  with  volcanoes  and  their 
work. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

HOW  THE  MOUNTAINS  WERE  UPHEAVED. 

The  notion  that  the  ground  is  naturally  steadfast  is  an  error, 
—  an  error  which  arises  from  the  incapacity  of  our  senses  to  ap- 
preciate any  but  the  most  palpable,  and  at  the  same  time  most 
exceptional,  of  its  movements.  The  idea  of  terra  jirma  belongs 
with  the  ancient  belief  that  the  earth  was  the  centre  of  the  uni- 
verse. It  is,  indeed,  by  their  mobility  that  the  continents  survive 
the  increasing  assaults  of  the  ocean  waves,  and  the  continuous 
down-wearing  which  the  rivers  and  glaciers  bring  about.  —  Pro- 
fessor Shaler. 

We  have  found  out  the  quarries  which  supplied 
the  rocky  framework  of  mountains,  and  have 
learned  how  the  work  of  transporting  these 
vast  quantities  of  stone  was  accomplished  by 
the  agency  of  ever-flowing  glaciers,  rivers,  and 
streams. 

We  must  now  consider  the  second  stage  of 
the  work,  and  inquire  how  the  mountains 
were  raised  up.  Referring  back  to  our  illustra- 
tion of  the  cathedral  (see  pages  143-147),  it  will 
be  remembered  that  this  work  was  included  under 
the  head  of  Elevation.     But  perhaps  some  one 


How  the  Mountains  were  upheaved.     175 

might  ask :  "  How  do  you  know  that  the 
mountains  have  been  elevated  or  upheaved  ? 
Is  it  not  enough  to  suppose  that  they  owe 
their  height  entirely  to  the  fact  that  they  are 
composed  of  harder  rock,  and  so  have  been  more 
successful  in  resisting  the  universal  decay  and 
destruction  ?  "  Now,  such  an  objection  contains 
a  good  deal  of  truth,  for  mountains  are  formed 
of  hard  rocks  ;  but  at  the  same  time  we  know 
that  the  agents  of  denudation  are  more  active 
among  them  than  on  the  plains  below,  so  that, 
in  the  higher  mountain  regions  at  least,  the 
work  of  demolition  may  actually  proceed  faster 
than  it  does  on  low  ground. 

Mountains  are  higher  than  the  rest  of  the 
world,  not  merely  because  they  are  built  of 
more  lasting  material,  but  also  because  they 
have  been  uplifted  for  thousands  of  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  sea  ;  and  the  evidence  of  their 
upheaval  is  so  plain  as  to  be  entirely  beyond 
doubt. 

Let  us  inquire  into  the  nature  of  this  evidence. 
We  have  seen  that  the  rocks  of  which  moun- 
tains are  composed  were  for  the  most  part 
formed  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  When  the 
geologist  finds,  as  he  frequently  does,  buried  in 


176  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

mountain  rocks  the  fossil  remains  of  creatures 
that  must  have  lived  in  the  sea  (and  often  very 
similar  to  those  living  there  now),  he  is  com- 
pelled to  think  of  the  gigantic  upheavals  that 
must  have  taken  place  before  those  remains 
could  arrive  at  their  present  elevated  position. 

Numerous  examples  might  be  given  ;  but  we 
will  only  mention  three.  In  the  Alps  marine 
fossils  have  been  detected  at  a  height  of  10,000 
feet  above  sea-level,  in  the  Himalayas  at  a 
height  of  16,500  feet,  and  in  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains at  a  height  of  11,000  feet. 

Again  we  must  take  it  for  granted  that  all  the 
stratified  or  sedimentary  rocks  (see  pages  148- 
149)  with  some  trivial  exceptions,  such  as  beds 
of  shingle  and  conglomerates,  have  been  formed 
in  horizontal  layers.  This  is  one  of  the  simple 
axioms  of  geology  to  which  every  one  must 
assent. 

Now,  if  we  find  in  various  parts  of  the  con- 
tinents, and  especially  among  the  mountains, 
such  strata  sloping  or  "  dipping '  in  various 
directions,  sometimes  only  slightly,  but  some- 
times very  steeply,  —  nay,  even  standing  up  on 
end,  —  the  conclusion  that  they  have  been  up- 
heaved and  pushed  or  squeezed  into  these  vari- 


How  the  Mountains  were  upheaved.     177 

cms  positions  by  some  subsequent  process  is 
irresistible.  But  this  is  not  all ;  for  in  every 
mountain  region  we  find  that  the  rocks  have 
been  crumpled,  twisted,  and  folded  in  a  most 
marvellous  manner.  Solid  sheets  of  limestone 
may  be  seen,  as  it  were,  to  writhe  from  the  base 
to  the  summit  of  a  mountain  ;  yet  they  present 
everywhere  their  truncated  ends  to  the  air,  and 
from  their  incompleteness  it  is  easy  to  see  what 
a  vast  amount  of  material  has  been  worn  away, 
leaving,  as  it  were,  mere  fragments  behind.  The 
whole  geological  aspect  of  the  Alps  (for  example) 
is  suggestive  of  intense  commotion  ;  and  they  re- 
main a  marvellous  monument  of  stupendous 
earth-throes,  followed  by  prolonged  and  gigan- 
tic denudation  (see  diagrams,  chap,  ix.,  p.  307). 
There  are  certain  features  found  in  all  moun- 
tain-chains which  must  be  carefully  borne  in 
mind,  especially  when  we  are  considering  the 
explanations  that  have  been  suggested  with  re- 
gard to  their  upheaval.  These  may  be  briefly 
stated  as  follows  :  — 

1.  Mountain-chains  tend  to  run  in  straight  or  gently- 
curving  lines. 

2.  Their  breadth  is  small  compared  to  their  length, 
and  their  height  smaller  still. 

12 


178  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

3.  They  rise  sharply  and  are  clearly  marked  off 
from  the  country  on  either  side. 

4.  They  form  the  backbones  of  continents. 

5.  The  rocks  of  which  they  are  composed  have  been 
greatly  disturbed,  folded,  and  contorted. 

6.  There  is  often  a  band  of  crystalline  rocks 
(granite,  gneiss,  etc.)  running  along  the  centre  of 
a  high  range. 

7.  They  are  connected  with  lines  of  volcanoes. 

8.  They  are  frequently  affected  by  earthquakes. 

Having  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  the 
mountains  show  evident  signs  of  upheaval,  let 
us  proceed  to  inquire  whether  any  movements, 
either  upward  or  downward,  are  taking  place 
now  on  the  earth,  or  can  be  proved  to  have 
done  so  within  comparatively  recent  times. 
On  this  question  there  is  ample  evidence  at 
our  disposal. 

More  than  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  ago, 
Celsius,  the  Swedish  astronomer,  was  aware, 
from  the  unanimous  testimony  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  sea-coasts,  that  the  Gulf  of  Bothnia 
was  constantly  diminishing  both  in  depth  and 
extent.  He  resorted  to  measurements  in  order 
to  prove  (as  he  thought)  that  the  waters  of 
the   Baltic  were    changing    their   level.      This 


How  the  Mountains  were  upheaved.     179 

was  a  mistaken  idea ;  and  we  now  understand 
that  the  level  of  the  sea  does  not  change, 
except  under  the  influence  of  the  daily  rise 
and  fall  of  the  tide,  which  is  easily  allowed  for. 
However,  that  was  the  idea  then  ;  and  it  sur- 
vived for  some  time.  But  if  the  sea-level  were 
continually  sinking,  the  water,  which,  owing  to 
the  influence  of  gravitation,  must  always  remain 
horizontal,  would  equally  retreat  all  round  the 
Scandinavian  peninsula  and  on  all  our  seashores. 
But  this  is  not  the  case.  Again,  it  would  be  im- 
possible on  this  theory  to  explain  the  curious 
fact  that  in  some  parts  of  the  world  the  sea  is 
gaining  on  the  land,  while  in  other  places  it  is 
as  surely  retreating ;  for  we  cannot  believe  that 
in  one  part  the  sea-level  is  rising,  while  in  an- 
other (not  far  off  in  some  cases)  it  is  sinking. 
No  body  of  water  could  behave  in  this  irregular 
fashion ;  and  the  sea  could  not  possibly  be  rising 
and  falling  at  the  same  time. 

Hence  we  may  take  it  for  granted  that  any 
change  that  we  may  notice  in  the  relative  level 
of  land  and  sea  must  be  due  to  upward  or  down- 
ward movements  in  the  land. 

But  to  return  to  Celsius.  Old  men  pointed 
out   to  him  various  points  on  the  coast,  over 


180  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

which  during  their  childhood   the   sea  was  wont 
to  flow,  and  besides,  showed  him  the  water-lines 
which  the  waves  had  once  traced  out  farther  in- 
land.  And  besides  this,  the  names  of  places  which 
implied  a  position  on  the  shore,  former  harbours 
or  ports  now  abandoned  and    situated  inland, 
the  remains  of  boats  found  far  from  the  sea,  and 
lastly,  the  written  records  and  popular  songs, 
left  no  doubt  that  the  sea  had  retreated  ;  and  it 
seemed  both  to  themselves  and  to  the  astronomer 
that  the  waters  were  sinking.     In  the  vear  1730 
Celsius,  after  comparing  all  the  evidence  he  had 
collected,  announced  that  the  Baltic  had  sunk 
three  feet,  four  inches,  every  hundred  years.    In 
the  course  of  the  following  year,  in  company 
with  Linnaeus,  the  naturalist,  he  made  a  mark  at 
the  base  of  a  rock  in  the  island  of  Leoffgmnd, 
not   far   from  Jelfe,  and  thirteen  years  after- 
wards was  able  to  prove,  as  he  thought,   that 
the  waters  were  still  subsiding  at  the  same  rate, 
or   a   little  faster.     In  reality,  he  had  proved, 
not   that   the    sea  was    sinking,  but   that    the 
land  was  rising. 

Similar  observations  show  that  nearly  the 
whole  of  Scandinavia  is  slowly  rising  out  of 
the  sea.     At  the  northern  end  of  the  Gulf   of 


How  the  Mountains  were  upheaved*     181 

Bothnia  the  land  is  emerging  at  the  rate  of  five 
feet,  three  inches,  in  a  century ;  but  by  the  side 
of  the  Aland  Isles  it  only  rises  three  and  one 
quarter  feet  in  the  same  time.  South  of  this 
archipelago  it  rises  still  more  slowly ;  and  far- 
ther down,  the  line  of  shore  does  not  alter  as 
compared  with  the  level  of  the  sea. 

But  it  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  extreme 
southern  end  of  this  peninsula  is  subsiding,  as 
proved  by  the  forests  that  have  been  submerged. 
Several  streets  of  some  towns  there  have  already 
disappeared,  and  the  coast  has  lost  on  the  aver- 
age a  belt  of  land  thirty-two  yards  in  breadth. 

The  upward  movement  of  the  Scandinavian 
peninsula  must  have  been  going  on  for  a  long 
time,  if  we  assume  that  it  was  always  at  the 
same  rate  as  at  present ;  for  we  find  beds  of  sea- 
shells  of  living  species  at  heights  of  six  or  seven 
hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  Great 
dead  branches  of  a  certain  pink  coral,  found  in 
the  sea  at  a  depth  of  over  one  hundred  and  fifty 
to  three  hundred  fathoms,  are  now  seen  in  water 
only  ten  or  fifteen  fathoms  deep.  It  must  have 
been  killed  as  it  was  brought  up  into  the  upper 
and  warmer  layers  of  water.  This  is  striking 
testimony. 


182  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

The  pine  woods  too,  which  clothe  the  hills,  are 
continually  being  upheaved  towards  the  lower 
limit  of  snow,  and  are  gradually  withering 
away  in  the  cooler  atmosphere  ;  and  wide  belts 
of  forest  are  composed  of  nothing  but  dead 
trees,  although  some  of  them  have  stood  for 
centuries. 

Geologists  have  proved  that  the  Baltic  Sea 
formerly  communicated  by  a  wide  channel  with 
the  North  Sea,  the  deepest  depressions  of  which 
are  now  occupied  by  lakes  in  the  southern  part  of 
Sweden;  for  considerable  heaps  of  oyster-shells 
are  now  found  in  several  places  on  the  heights 
commanding  these  great  lakes.  Then  we  have 
in  Denmark  the  celebrated  "  kitchen-middens," 
heaps  of  rubbish  also  largely  composed  of  oyster- 
shells  which  the  inhabitants,  in  the  "  Stone  Age," 
collected  from  the  bottoms  of  the  neighbouring 
bays.  At  the  present  day  the  waters  of  the  Bal- 
tic, into  which  rivers  bring  large  quantities  of 
fresh  water,  do  not  contain  enough  salt  for  oys- 
ters to  grow  there  ;  but  the  oyster-shells  prove 
that  the  Baltic  Sea  and  these  inland  lakes  were 
once  as  salt  as  the  North  Sea  is  now.  This  can 
only  be  explained  by  supposing  that  the  Baltic 
was  not  so  shut  in  then  as  it  is  in  these  days. 


How  the  Mountains  were  upheaved.     183 

The  bed  of  the  old  wide  channel  has  risen,  and 
what  once  was  sea  is  now  land. 

Again,  it  is  very  probable  that  the  great  lakes 
and  innumerable  sheets  of  water  which  fill  all 
the  granite  basins  of  Finland  have  taken  the 
place  of  an  arm  of  the  sea  which  once  united  the 
waters  of  the  Baltic  to  those  of  the  great  Polar 
Ocean.  And  so  there  must  have  been  up- 
heaval here  as  well. 

The  old  sea-beaches,  now  above  the  level  of  the 
highest  tides,  that  are  found  in  many  parts  of 
the  Scandinavian,  Scottish,  and  other  coasts,  fur- 
nish plain  evidence  of  upheaval. 

At  the  present  day,  between  the  lines  of  high 
tide  and  low  tide,  the  sea  is  constantly  engaged 
in  producing  sand  and  shingle,  spreading  them 
out  upon  the  beach,  mingling  them  with  the  re- 
mains of  shells  and  other  marine  animals,  and 
sometimes  piling  them  up,  sometimes  sweeping 
them  away.  In  this  way  a  beach  often  resem- 
bles a  terrace.  When  the  land  is  upheaved 
rapidly  enough  to  carry  up  this  line  of  beach- 
deposits  before  they  are  washed  away  by  the 
waves,  they  form  a  flat  terrace,  or  what  is  known 
as  a  "  raised  beach."  The  old  high-water  mark 
is  then   inland ;  its    sea-worn    caves  become  in 


184  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

time  coated  with  ferns  and  mosses;  the  old 
beach  forms  an  admirable  platform  on  which 
meadows,  fields,  villages,  and  towns  spring 
up ;  and  the  sea  goes  on  forming  a  new  beach 
below  and  beyond  the  margin  of  the  old 
one. 

The  Scottish  coast-line,  on  both  sides,  is 
fringed  with  raised  beaches,  sometimes  four 
or  five  occurring  above  each  other,  at  heights 
of  from  twenty-five  to  seventy-five  feet  above 
the  present  high-water  mark.  Each  of  these 
lines  of  terrace  marks  a  former  lower  level 
at  which  the  land  stood  with  regard  to  the 
sea ;  and  the  spaces  between  them  represent 
the  amount  of  each  successive  rise  of  the  land. 
Each  terrace  was  formed  during  a  pause,  or 
interval,  in  the  upward  movement,  during 
which  the  waves  had  time  to  make  a  terrace, 
whereas,  while  the  land  kept  on  rising,  they 
had  no  time  to  do  so.  Thus  we  learn  that 
the  upheaval  of  the  country  was  interrupted 
by  considerable  pauses. 

Sometimes  old  ports  and  harbours  furnish 
evidence  of  upheaval.  Thus,  the  former  Ro- 
man port  of  Alaterva  (Cramond)  in  Scotland, 
the    quays    of    which    are    still  visible,  is  now 


How  the  Mountains  -were   upheaved,     185 

situated  at  some  distance  from  the  sea,  and  the 
ground  on  which  it  stands  has  risen  at  least 
twenty-four  feet.  In  other  places  the  scattered 
debris  shows  that  the  coast  has  risen  twenty- 
six  feet.  And  bv  a  remarkable  coincidence, 
the  ancient  wall  of  Antoninus,  which  in  the 
time  of  the  Romans  stretched  from  sea  to  sea, 
and  served  as  a  barrier  against  the  Picts, 
comes  to  an  end  at  a  point  twenty-six  feet 
above  the  level  of  high  tides.  In  the  estuary 
of  the  Clyde  there  are  deposits  of  mud,  con- 
taining rude  canoes  and  other  relics  of  human 
workmanship,  several  feet  above  the  present 
high-water  mark. 

Raised  beaches  are  found  on  many  parts 
of  the  coast  of  Great  Britain.  Excellent  ex- 
amples occur  on  the  coasts  of  Devon  and 
Cornwall.  On  the  sides  of  the  mountainous 
fiords  of  Norway  similar  terraces  are  found 
up  to  more  than  six  hundred  feet  above  the 
sea ;  and  as  some  of  these  rise  to  a  greater 
height  at  a  distance  of  fifty  miles  inland,  it 
seems  that  there  was  a  greater  upward  move- 
ment towards  the  interior  of  Norway  than  on 
the  coasts. 

There  is  a  celebrated   raised   beach   on   the 


186  The  Story  of  the  Hills, 

side  of  a  mountain  in  North  Wales,  known 
as  Moel  Tryfaen,  where  the  writer  gathered  a 
number  of  marine  shells  at  a  height  of  1,357 
feet. 

But  Scandinavia  and  Great  Britain  are  not 
the  only  parts  of  Europe  where  an  upward 
movement  has  taken  place,  for  the  islands  of 
Nova  Zembla  and  Spitzbergen  show  evidence 
of  the  same  kind ;  and  the  coast  of  Siberia,  for 
six  hundred  miles  to  the  east  of  the  river 
Lena,  has  also  been  upraised.  On  the  banks 
of  the  Dwina  and  the  Vega,  250  miles  to  the 
south  of  the  White  Sea,  Murchison  found  beds 
of  sand  and  mud  with  shells  similar  to  those 
which  inhabit  the  neighbouring  seas,  so  well 
preserved  that  they  had  not  lost  their  colours. 

Again,  the  ground  of  the  Siberian  toundras 
is  to  a  large  extent  covered  with  a  thin  coat- 
ing of  sand  and  fine  clay,  exactly  similar  to 
that  which  is  now  deposited  on  the  shores  of 
the  Frozen  Ocean.  In  this  clay,  the  remains 
of  the  mammoth,  or  woolly  elephant,  now 
extinct,  are  preserved  in  great  numbers. 

Parts  of  Northern  Greenland  have  also  risen ; 
while  at  the  southern  end  of  this  frozen  land 
a  downward  movement  is  still  taking  place. 


How  ike  Mountains  were  upheaved.     187 

The  best-known  example  of  these  slow  move- 
ments within  historic  times  is  the  so-called 
Temple  of  Serapis  in  the  Bay  of  Baie,  near 
Naples.  The  ruins  of  this  building,  which  was 
probably  a  Roman  bath,  consist  of  a  square 
floor  paved  with  marble,  showing  that  it 
possessed  a  magnificent  central  court.  This 
court,  when  perfect,  was  covered  with  a  roof 
supported  by  forty-six  fine  columns,  some  of 
marble,  others  of  granite.  There  is  still  a 
hot  spring  behind,  from  which  water  was  con- 
ducted through  a  marble  channel.  All  the  col- 
umns but  three  were  nearly  buried  in  the  soil 
which  covered  the  whole  court,  when  the  ruins 
were  first  discovered.  Now,  each  of  the  three 
marble  columns  that  are  still  standing  shows 
clear  evidence  of  having  been  depressed  below 
the  sea-level,  for  they  all  exhibit  a  circular 
row  of  little  holes  bored  by  a  certain  marine 
shell-fish,  known  as  Lithodomus  dactylus,  at  a 
height  of  twelve  feet  from  the  floor ;  each  row 
is  about  eight  feet  broad.  The  shells  may  still 
be  seen  inside  the  little  pear-shaped  holes  which 
the  shell-fish  bored  for  themselves ;  and  the  same 
shell-fish  still  live  in  the  waters  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean and  bore  holes  in  the  limestone  rocks. 


188  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

It  is  therefore  quite  clear  that  these  col- 
umns must  have  been  under  water  to  a  depth 
of  twenty  feet  or  so,  and  also  that  they  must 
have  remained  under  water  for  some  consider- 
able time,  during  which  the  shell-fish  made 
these  borings.  Then  an  upheaval  took  place 
whereby  the  whole  building  was  elevated  to 
its  present  level.  But  underneath  the  present 
floor,  at  a  depth  of  five  feet,  were  discovered 
the  remains  of  an  older  floor.  This  probably 
belonged  to  an  earlier  building  which  had  in 
like  manner  been  depressed  below  sea-level. 
We  thus  learn  that  the  land  in  this  spot  had 
been  sinking  for  a  long  time,  and  that  at 
some  subsequent  time  it  rose.  The  fallen  col- 
umns suggest  the  idea  that  they  were  thrown 
down  by  earthquakes.  At  the  present  time 
the  land  here  is  again  sinking  at  the  rate  of 
one  inch  in  three  or  four  years. 

But  the  first  example  of  upheaval  within 
comparatively  recent  times,  and  one  which  is  in- 
structive as  throwing  some  light  on  the  subject 
of  the  present  chapter,  —  namely,  the  upheaval 
of  mountain-chains,  —  is  to  be  found  along  the 
western  mountainous  coast  of  South  America. 
Here  we  have  the  magnificent  ranges  of   the 


How  the  Mountains  were  upheaved.     189 

Andes  running  along  the  whole  length  of  this 
continent.  The  illustrious  Charles  Darwin, 
during  his  famous  trip  in  the  "Beagle,"  dis- 
covered numerous  raised  beaches  along  this 
coast,  and  at  once  perceived  their  importance 
to  the  geologist.  The  terraces  are  not  quite 
horizontal,  but  rise  towards  the  south.  On 
the  frontier  of  Bolivia,  they  are  seen  at 
heights  of  from  sixty-five  to  eighty  feet  above 
sea-level ;  but  nearer  the  higher  mass  of  the 
Chilian  Andes  they  are  found  at  one  thousand 
feet,  and  near  Valparaiso,  in  Chili,  at  thirteen 
hundred  feet  above  the  sea.  Darwin  also  dis- 
covered that  some  of  the  upheavals  thus  indi- 
cated took  place  during  the  human  period ; 
for  he  found  in  one  of  the  terraces  opposite 
Callao,  in  Peru,  at  a  height  of  eighty  feet, 
shells  with  bones  of  birds,  ears  of  wheat, 
plaited  reeds,  and  cotton  thread,  showing  that 
men  had  lived  on  the  terrace.  These  relics 
of  human  industry  are  exactly  similar  to 
those  that  are  found  in  the  huacas,  or  bur- 
ial-places, of  the  ancient  Peruvians.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  island  of  San  Lo- 
renzo, and  probably  the  whole  of  the  coast 
in   its   neighbourhood,    have   risen   eighty  feet 


190  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

or   more    since    the    Ked    Man    inhabited    the 
country. 

Callao  probably  forms  the  northern  limit  of 
the  long  strip  of  coast  that  has  been  upheaved, 
and  the  island  of  Chiloe  the  southern  limit ;  but 
even  thus  the  region  of  elevation  has  a  length 
from  north  to  south  of  about  2,480  miles. 

We  noticed  in  the  case  of  Scandinavia  that 
the  upward  movement  is  greater  in  the  interior 
of  the  mountain-range  than  at  or  near  the  coast ; 
and  it  is  interesting  to  find  that  the  same  differ- 
ence has  been  observed  in  the  case  of  the  Andes. 
The  upheaving  force,  whatever  its  nature,  acts 
with  more  energy  under  the  Chilian  Andes  than 
under  the  rocks  of  the  adjacent  coast. 

In  New  Zealand  we  have  also  evidences  of 
upheaval ;  and  if  we  trace  out  on  the  map  a  long 
line  from  the  Friendly  Isles  and  Fiji,  through 
the  Eastern  Archipelago,  and  then  on  through 
the  Philippine  Islands,  and  finally  to  Japan 
and  the  Kurile  Islands,  we  shall  find  scattered 
regions  of  elevation  all  along  this  great  line, 
which  is  probably  a  mountain-chain,  partly 
submerged,  and  along  which  numerous  active 
volcanoes    are    situated. 

Putting  together  all  the    evidence   that  has 


How  the  Mountains  were  upheaved.     191 

been  gathered  on  this  subject,  of  which  only  a 
very  small  part  is  here  given,  we  are  warranted 
in  concluding  that  taking  the  world  generally, 
regions  where  active  volcanoes  exist  are  gener- 
ally regions  where  upheaval  is  taking  place. 
There  is  also  a  very  interesting  connection  be- 
tween mountain-chains  and  lines  of  volcanic 
action.  From  this  it  seems  to  follow,  if  lines  of 
volcanic  action  are  also  lines  of  upheaval,  that 
mountain-chains  are  undergoing  upheaval  at  the 
present  time.  This  is  a  conclusion  in  favour  of 
which  a  good  deal  may  be  said.  It  is  certainly 
true  in  the  cases  of  the  Scandinavian  range,  and 
also  of  a  very  large  part  of  the  Andes,  to  which 
we  have  already  referred.  The  Highlands  of 
Scotland  and  Scandinavia  form  the  northern 
end  of  an  old  line  of  volcanic  action  running 
down  the  Atlantic  Ocean  through  the  Azores, 
Madeira,  Cape  Yerde  Islands,  Ascension,  St. 
Helena,  right  down  to  Tristan  d'Acunha. 

In  many  other  parts  of  the  world  we  have 
evidences  from  submerged  forests,  the  posi- 
tions of  certain  landmarks  with  regard  to  the 
sea,  and  in  some  cases  submerged  towns,  that 
movements  of  a  downward  nature  are  taking 
place. 


192  The  Story  of  the  Hills, 

It  is  important  to  distinguish  from  these  evi- 
dences the  changes  that  take  place  where  the 
waves  of  the  sea  are  rapidly  washing  away  the 
coast-line.  Putting  aside  these  cases,  however, 
it  has  been  clearly  proved  that  in  many  regions 
a  slow  sinking  of  the  land  is  going  on. 

The  eastern  side  of  South  America  has  not 
been  so  thoroughly  observed  as  its  western  side ; 
but  there  is  still  good  reason  to  believe  that  a 
large  part  of  this  coast  is  sinking.  So  it  ap- 
pears that  a  see-saw  movement  is  affecting 
South  America,  and  that  while  one  side  is  going 
up,  the  other  is  going  down ;  and  it  is  interest- 
ing to  observe  other  examples  of  the  same 
thing,  —  such  as  are  afforded  by  Greenland 
and  Norway. 

Again,  while  part  of  Labrador  is  rising,  parts 
of  the  eastern  coast  of  North  America,  as  far 
down  as  Florida,  are  slowly  sinking.  Thus 
along  the  New  England  coast  between  New 
York  and  Maine,  and  again  along  the  Gulf  of 
St.  Lawrence,  we  find  numerous  submerged 
forests  with  quantities  of  trees  standing  upright 
with  their  roots  in  old  forest-beds,  but  with  the 
tops  of  their  stumps  some  feet  below  the  level 
of  high  tide.     In  the  case  of   New  Jersey  the 


THE    SKAEGGDALFORS,    NORWAY. 
From"  a  Photograph  by  J.  Valentine. 


How  the  Mountains  were  upheaved.     193 

subsidence  is  probably  taking  place  at  the  rate 
of  two  feet  in  a  hundred  years. 

Before  passing  on  to  consider  upward  move- 
ments of  a  more  rapid  nature,  such  as  are  fre- 
quently caused  by  earthquakes,  we  may  pause 
for  a  few  moments  to  consider  certain  very 
slight,  but  nevertheless  very  interesting  little 
movements,  such  as  slight  pulsations  and  tremors, 
which  have  been  observed  to  take  place  in  the 
earth's  crust  (as  it  is  called),  and  which  of  late 
years  have  been  carefully  studied. 

Professor  Milne,  a  great  authority  on  earth- 
quakes, has  noticed  slight  swayings  of  the  earth, 
which  though  occupying  a  short  time  —  from  a 
few  seconds  to  a  few  hours  —  are  still  too  slow 
to  produce  a  shock  of  any  kind.  These  he  calls 
"  earth  pulsations."  They  have  been  observed 
by  means  of  delicate  spirit-levels,  the  bubbles  of 
which  move  with  very  slight  changes  of  level  at 
either  end  of  the  instrument.  At  present  only 
a  few  experiments  of  this  kind  have  been  made  ; 
but  they  tell  us  that  the  surface  of  the  earth 
(which  is  apparently  so  firm  and  immovable)  is 
subject  to  slight  but  frequent  oscillations.  Some 
think  that  they  depend  upon  changes  in  the 
weight   of   the  atmosphere.     If  this  is  so,  the 

13 


194  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

balance  between  the  forces  at  work  below  the 
earth's  surface  and  those  that  operate  on  its 
surface  must  be  very  easily  disturbed.  Still  we 
cannot  see  that  this  is  a  serious  objection ;  on 
the  contrary,  there  is  much  reason  to  think  that 
any  slight  extra  weight  on  the  surface,  such  as 
might  be  caused  by  an  increase  of  the  pressure 
of  the  atmosphere,  and  still  more  by  the  ac- 
cumulation of  vast  sedimentary  deposits  on  the 
floor  of  the  ocean,  may  be  quite  sufficient  to 
cause  a  movement  to  take  place.  Moreover,  Mr. 
G.  H.  Darwin  has  shown  that  the  earth's  crust 
daily  heaves  up  and  down  under  the  attraction 
of  the  moon  in  the  same  kind  of  way  that  the 
ocean  does ;  so  that  we  must  give  up  all  idea 
of  the  solid  earth  being  fixed  and  immovable, 
and  must  look  upon  it  as  a  flexible  body,  like  a 
ball  of  india-rubber  (see  chap,  ix.,  pp.  314-315). 
Slight  movements  of  rather  a  different  kind 
have  been  noticed,  to  which  the  name  of 
"earth-tremors"  has  been  given.  These  are 
very  slight  jarrings  or  quiverings  of  the  earth, 
too  slight  to  be  observed  by  our  unaided  senses, 
but  rendered  visible  by  means  of  very  delicate 
pendulums  and  other  contrivances.  Now  wher- 
ever such  observations  have  been  made  it  has 


How  the  Mountains  were  upheaved.     195 

been  discovered  that  the  earth  is  constantly 
quivering  as  if  it  were  a  lump  of  jelly.  In 
Italy,  where  this  subject  has  been  very  carefully 
studied,  the  tremors  that  are  continually  going 
on  are  found  to  vary  considerably  in  strength ; 
for  instance,  when  the  weather  is  very  disturbed 
and  unsettled,  the  movements  of  the  pendulum 
are  often  much  greater.  Again,  before  an  earth- 
quake the  instrument  shows  that  the  tremors 
are  more  frequent  and  violent. 

Another  way  of  observing  these  curious 
little  movements  is  by  burying  microphones  in 
the  ground.  The  microphone  is  a  little  instru- 
ment invented  of  late  years  which  is  capable 
of  enormously  magnifying  the  very  slightest 
sounds,  such  as  our  ears  will  not  detect.  By 
its  means  one  can  hear,  as  some  one  said,  "  the 
tramp  of  a  fly's  foot,"  if  he  will  be  so  obliging 
as  to  walk  over  it.  It  has  thus  been  proved  in 
Italy  that  the  earth  sends  forth  a  confused 
medley  of  sounds  caused  by  little  crackings  and 
snappings  in  the  rocks  below  our  feet. 

In  this  way  it  will  be  possible  to  predict  a 
serious  earthquake,  because  it  will  give  warn- 
ing some  days  before,  by  the  increase  of  the 
little  tremors  and  sounds ;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped 


196  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

that  by  this  simple  means  human  lives  may 
be  saved. 

Now,  these  disturbances  are  of  precisely  the 
same  nature  as  earthquakes,  —  in  fact,  we  may 
call  them  microscopic  earthquakes.  To  the 
geologist  they  are  of  great  interest,  as  they 
seem  to  afford  some  little  insight  into  the  dif- 
ficult question  of  the  upheaval  of  mountains, 
and  to  show  us  something  of  the  constant  work- 
ing of  those  wonderful  forces  below  the  surface 
of  the  earth  by  means  of  which  continents  are 
raised  up  out  of  the  sea,  and  mountain-chains 
are  elevated  thousands  of  feet.  It  is  probable 
that  both  are  due  to  the  working  of  the  same 
forces,  and  are  accomplished  by  the  same 
machinery. 

We  now  pass  on  to  consider  those  more  violent 
movements  of  the  solid  land  known  as  earth- 
quakes. This  kind  of  disturbance  is  such  as 
might  be  produced  by  a  sudden  shock  or 
blow  given  below  the  ground,  from  which 
waves  travel  in  all  directions.  First  comes  a 
rumbling  noise  like  the  roar  of  distant  artillery  ; 
then  come  the  earthquake  waves  one  after  an- 
other, causing  the  ground  to  rise  and  fall  as  a 
ship  does  on  the  waves  of  the  sea ;  the  ground 


How  the  Mountains  were  upheaved.     197 

is  frequently  rent  asunder,  so  that  chasms  are 
formed,  into  which  in  some  cases  men  and 
animals  have  been  hurled  alive.  In  the  case 
of  a  very  violent  earthquake  the  waves  travel 
long  distances.  Thus  the  great  earthquake  by 
which  Lisbon  was  destroyed  in  the  year  1755 
disturbed  the  waters  of  Loch  Lomond  in  Scot- 
land. In  this  fearful  catastrophe  sixty  thousand 
human  beings  perished.  If  the  disturbance  takes 
place  near  the  sea,  great  sea  waves  are  formed, 
which  cause  fearful  destruction  to  life  and  prop- 
erty. This  happened  in  the  case  of  the  Lisbon 
earthquake ;  and  in  the  year  1868,  when  Ecuador 
and  Peru  were  visited  by  a  fearful  earthquake, 
a  great  sea  wave  swept  over  the  port  of  Arica, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  every  vessel  in  the 
harbour  was  either  driven  ashore  or  wrecked, 
and  a  man-of-war  was  swept  inland  for  a 
quarter    of  a  mile. 

Earthquakes  bring  about  many  changes  on 
the  surface  of  the  earth.  For  example,  on 
mountain-slopes  forests  are  shattered,  and 
large  masses  of  soil  and  debris  are  shaken 
loose  from  the  rock  on  which  they  rested,  and 
hurled  into  the  valleys ;  streams  are  thus 
choked  up,  and  sometimes  lakes  formed,  either 


198  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

by  the  damming  up  of  a  river  or  by  the 
subsidence  of   the   ground. 

It  is  frequently  found  after  an  earthquake 
that  the  level  of  the  ground  has  been  per- 
manently altered ;  and  this  effect  of  earth- 
quakes is  important  in  connection  with  the 
subject  we  are  now  considering,  —  namely,  how 
mountains  are  upheaved.  Sometimes,  it  is 
true,  the  movement  is  a  downward  one ;  but 
more  generally  it  takes  place  in  an  upward 
direction.  As  an  example  of  this,  we  may 
mention  the  Chilian  earthquake  of  1835, 
which  was  very  violent,  and  destroyed  several 
towns  on  that  coast,  from  Copiapo  to  Chile.  It 
was  afterwards  found  that  the  land  in  the  Bay 
of  Conception  had  been  raised  four  or  five  feet. 
At  the  island  of  Santa  Maria,  to  the  southwest 
of  this  bay,  the  land  was  raised  eight  feet,  and 
in  one  part  ten  feet ;  for  beds  of  dead  mussels 
were  seen  at  that  height  above  high  water,  and  a 
considerable  rocky  flat  that  formerly  was  covered 
by  the  sea  now  became  dry  land.  It  was  also 
proved  by  means  of  soundings  that  the  sea  round 
the  island  was  shallower  by  about  nine  feet. 

Now  the  question  arises,  "  How  are  earth- 
quakes caused  ?  "  Various  suggestions  have  been 


How  the  Mountains  were  tip  heaved.     199 

made  ;  but  it  is  pretty  clear  that  all  earthquakes 
are  not  produced  in  the  same  way.  For  instance, 
volcanic  eruptions  are  frequently  attended  by 
earthquakes.  Violent  shocks  of  this  nature 
generally  precede  and  accompany  a  great  erup- 
tion, as  is  frequently  the  case  before  an  eruption 
of  Mount  Vesuvius. 

Steam  plays  a  very  important  part  in  all 
volcanic  eruptions ;  and  these  earthquakes  are 
probably  caused  by  great  quantities  of  pent- 
up  steam  at  a  high  pressure  struggling  to  escape. 
It  is  also  possible  that  when  molten  rock  is 
forcibly  injected  into  the  crevices  and  joints 
of  overlying  rocks  earthquake  shocks  may  be 
produced  by  the  concussion.  The  old  Roman 
poet  and  philosopher,  Lucretius,  endeavoured 
to  solve  this  problem,  and  concluded  that  "  the 
shakings  of  the  surface  of  the  globe  are  occa- 
sioned by  the  falling  in  of  enormous  caverns 
which  time  has  succeeded  in  destroying."  But 
though  the  explanation  might  possibly  apply 
to  a  few  cases  of  small  earthquakes,  it  is  not 
a  satisfactory  one,  for  it  is  not  at  all  likely 
that  many  large  cavities  exist  below  the  earth's 
surface,  because  the  great  weight  of  the  over- 
lying rock  would  inevitably  crush  them  in. 


200  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

We  have  already  pointed  out  that  earth- 
quakes frequently  happen  in  mountainous  re- 
gions ;  and  this  fact  alone  suggests  that  perhaps 
the  same  causes  which  upheave  mountains  may 
have  something  to  do  with  earthquakes.  But 
there  are  other  reasons  for  believing  that  the 
same  force  which  causes  earthquakes  also  up- 
heaves mountain-chains.  The  reader  will  re- 
member the  case  of  the  Chilian  earthquake  that 
raised  part  of  the  Andes  a  few  feet  in  height. 

Now,  it  is  quite  clear  that  the  rocks  of  which 
mountains  are  composed  have  suffered  a  great 
deal  of  disturbance.  We  have  only  to  look 
at  the  crumbled  and  contorted  strata  to  see 
that  they  have  been  forced  into  all  kinds  of  po- 
sitions, sometimes  standing  bolt  upright  (see  dia- 
grams, chap,  ix.,  p.  307).  And  as  we  cannot 
believe,  for  many  reasons,  that  these  move- 
ments were  of  a  very  sudden  or  violent  kind, 
we  must  consider  that  they  took  place  slowly 
on  the  whole ;  but  besides  being  folded  and 
twisted,  the  rocks  of  mountains  frequently  ex- 
hibit clear  signs  of  having  been  split  and 
cracked.  The  fractures  are  of  all  sizes,  from 
an  inch  or  more  up  to  hundreds  or  even  thou- 
sands of  feet.     They  tell  us  plainly  that  the 


How  the  Mountains  were  upheaved.     201 

rocks  were  once  slowly  bent,  and  that  after  a 
certain  amount  of  bending  had  taken  place,  the 
strain  put  upon  them  became  greater  than  they 
could  bear,  and  consequently  they  snapped  and 
split  along  certain  lines.  This  is  just  what 
might  be  expected.  For  instance,  ice  on  a  pond 
will  bend  a  good  deal,  but  only  up  to  a  certain 
amount ;  after  that,  it  cracks  in  long  lines  with 
a  remarkably  sharp  and  smooth  fracture.  But 
suppose  the  pressure  came  from  below  instead 
pf  from  above,  as  when  a  number  of  people  are 
skating  on  a  pond.  Should  we  not  see  the  ice 
forced  up  in  some  places,  so  that  some  sheets 
stood  up  above  the  others  after  sliding  past 
their  broken  edges  ?  This  is  just  what  the 
rocks  in  different  places  have  frequently  done. 
After  a  fracture  has  taken  place  the  rock  on 
one  side  has  slid  up  over  the  other,  and  the 
two  surfaces  made  by  the  fracture  —  like  two 
long  walls  —  are  no  longer  seen  at  the  same 
level.  One  has  been  pushed  up,  while  the  other 
has  gone  down  (see  diagram  of  the  ranges  of 
the  Great  Basin,  chap,  viii.,  p.  273). 

Now,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  conceive  of 
these  tremendous  fractures  taking  place  in  the 
rocks  below  our  feet  without  causing  sudden 


202  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

jars  or  shocks.  Here,  then,  we  seem  to  have  a 
clue  to  the  problem.  Even  if  the  movements 
took  place  only  a  few  inches  or  a  few  feet  at 
a  time,  that  does  not  spoil  our  theory,  but  rather 
favours  it ;  for  in  that  case  the  upheaval  of  a 
mountain-chain  will  have  taken  a  very  long 
time  (which  is  almost  certain),  and  may  have 
been  accomplished  bit  by  bit.  Hundreds  and 
thousands  of  earthquake  shocks,  some  slight, 
and  others  severe,  may  have  attended  the 
upheaval  of  a  mountain-range. 

This  explanation  is  accepted  by  many  author- 
ities. It  does  not  exactly  imply  that  mountains 
were  upheaved  by  earthquakes ;  but  it  means 
that  the  same  forces  that  elevate  continents, 
heaving  them  up  out  of  the  sea  into  ridges  and 
very  low  arches,  have  been  at  work  to  crumple 
and  fold  their  rocks  in  some  places  into  stupen- 
dous folds,  such  as  we  now  find  form  part  of 
the  general  structure  of  mountains  ;  and  that 
in  so  doing  they  caused  fearful  strains,  too  great 
for  the  rocks  to  bear,  so  that  they  split  over 
and  over  again,  and  in  so  doing  produced  jars 
and  shocks  that  must  have  been  very  similar 
to,  if  not  identical  with,  earthquake  shocks  as 
we  know  them  at  the  present  day. 


How  the  Mountains  were  upheaved.     203 

Such  an  explanation  is  in  striking  harmony 
with  what  we  have  already  learned  about  the 
operations  of  Nature.  It  was  from  the  long- 
continued  operation  of  rain  and  rivers  that  the 
materials  now  forming  mountains  were  trans- 
ported to  the  seas  in  which  they  were  slowly 
formed.  It  was  also  by  the  ordinary  opera- 
tions of  frost,  heat  and  cold,  snow  and  ice, 
streams,  rain,  and  rivers  that  the  mountains  re- 
ceived their  present  shapes  (see  chapters  v.  and 
vii.).  And  now  we  learn  that  the  gigantic  work 
of  upheaval  took  place  in  a  tolerably  quiet  and 
uniform  manner,  —  with  perhaps  only  an  oc- 
casional catastrophe  of  a  more  violent  kind, 
but  still  according  to  the  same  law  of  uniformity 
which  is  the  very  basis  of  modern  geology,  and 
by  means  of  which  so  much  can  be  explained. 

We  could  give  other  proofs  of  the  gradual 
elevation  of  mountains  if  they  were  wanted. 
But  at  least  enough  has  been  said  to  give  the 
reader  a  glimpse  into  the  methods  employed 
by  geologists  in  endeavouring  to  explain  how 
mountains  were  upheaved ;  and  to  show  that 
it  is  only  by  a  careful  study  of  all  that  is  taking 
place  now  on  the  earth  that  we  can  ever  hope 
to  solve  the  difficult  questions  that  present  them- 


204  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

selves  to  all  who  study  those  stony  records  on 
which  the  earth  has  written  for  our  enlighten- 
ment the  chapters  of  her  ancient  history. 

In  conclusion,  it  may  be  asked  what  is  the 
nature  of  the  force  that  accomplishes  all  this 
titanic  work  of  upheaval.  Although  the  ques- 
tion has  been  much  discussed,  and  some  very 
ingenious  suggestions  brought  forward,  we  can- 
not say  that  any  of  them  are  entirely  satisfac- 
tory. But  we  know  that  the  earth  is  a  cooling 
body  which  loses  so  much  heat  every  year ;  and 
it  may  be  that  the  shrinking  that  takes  place 
as  it  cools,  by  leaving  the  crust  of  the  earth  in 
some  places  unsupported,  causes  it  to  settle 
down,  to  adapt  itself  to  a  smaller  surface  below, 
and  in  so  doing  it  would  inevitably  throw  itself 
into  a  series  of  folds,  or  wrinkles,  like  those 
on  the  skin  of  a  dried  apple.  Many  think 
that  mountain-ranges  may  be  explained  in 
this  way. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

HOW   THE   MOUNTAINS    WERE    CARVED    OUT. 

And  surely  the  mountain  fadeth  away, 

And  the  rock  is  removed  out  of  its  place, 

The  waters  wear  away  the  stones  : 

The  overflowings  thereof  wash  away  the  dust  of  the 

earth. 

Job  xiv.  18. 

The  mighty  fortresses  of  the  earth,  which  seem 
so  imperishable,  so  majestic  in  their  strength, 
and  have  from  time  immemorial  received  their 
title  of  "  the  everlasting  hills,"  are  nevertheless 
undergoing  constant  change  and  decay.  They 
cannot  abide  for  ever.  Those  waste  leagues 
around  their  feet  are  loaded  with  the  wrecks  of 
what  once  belonged  to  them ;  they  are  witnesses 
to  the  victory  of  the  hostile  forces  that  are  for 
ever  contending  with  them,  and  pledges  of  a 
final  triumph.  To  those  who  will  read  their 
story,  mountains  stand  like  old  dismantled  cas- 
tles, mere  wrecks  of  ruined  masonry,  that  have 
nearly  crumbled  away,  telling  us  of  a  time  when 


206  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

all  their  separate  peaks  and  crags  were  one  solid 
mass,  perhaps  an  elevated  smooth  plateau  un- 
touched by  the  rude  hand  of  time. 

Let  us  now  inquire  how  the  work  of  destruc- 
tion is  accomplished.  Referring  back  to  our  illus- 
tration of  the  cathedral,  given  in  chap,  v.,  pp. 
143-147,  the  question  we  have  now  to  consider  is, 
how  the  mountains  were  carved  out  into  all  these 
wonderful  features  of  crag  and  precipice,  peak 
and  pass,  which  are  such  a  source  of  delight  to 
all  who  care  for  scenery.  This  work  we  in- 
cluded in  the  one  word  u  ornamentation."  What, 
then,  are  the  tools  which  Nature  uses  in  this 
work  of  carving  out  the  hills  ?  What  are  her 
axes  and  hammers,  her  chisels  and  saws  ? 

This  question,  like  many  others,  must  be  an- 
swered by  observing  what  takes  place  at  the 
present  day.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that 
mountains  and  mountain-ranges  are  not  simply 
the  result  of  upheaval,  though  they  have  been 
upheaved.  If  that  were  so,  they  would  probably 
appear  as  long  smooth,  monotonous  ridges,  with 
no  separate  mountain  masses,  no  peaks,  no 
glens  or  valleys ;  in  some  cases  they  might  ap- 
pear as  simply  elevated  and  smooth  plateaux. 
Such  mountains,  if  we  may  so  call  them,  would 


How  the  Mountains  were  carved  out.     207 

be  almost  as  uninteresting  as  the  roof  of  a 
gabled  house  down  which  the  rain  finds  its 
way  in  one  smooth  continuous  sheet. 

Mountains,  reaching  as  they  do  into  the  higher 
regions  of  the  atmosphere,  where  the  winds 
blow  more  fiercely  than  on  the  plains  below, 
storms  rage  more  violently,  and  the  extremes  of 
heat  and  cold  are  more  severe,  —  in  fact,  where 
every  process  of  change  and  decay  seems  quick- 
ened,—  suffer  continually  at  the  hands  of  the 
elements. 

"  Death  must  be  upon  the  hills,  and  the  cruelty  of 
the  tempests  smite  them,  and  the  thorn  and  the  briar 
spring  up  upon  them  ;  but  they  so  smite  as  to  bring 
their  rocks  into  the  fairest  forms,  and  so  spring  as  to 
make  the  very  desert  blossom  as  the  rose."  1 

Nature  never  leaves  them  alone,  never  gives 
them  a  brief  armistice  in  the  long  war  that  she 
wages  against  them.  She  is  a  relentless  enemy, 
ever  on  the  move,  and  ever  varying  her  methods 
of  attack.  Now  she  assails  them  openly  with 
her  storm-clouds,  and  pelts  them  furiously  with 
driving  rain ;  now  we  hear  the  thunder  of  her 
artillery,  as  she  pierces  their  crests  with  strange 

1  Modern  Painters. 


208  The  Story  of  the  Hills, 

electric  darts  of  fire  ;  now  she  secretly  under- 
mines their  sides  with  her  hidden  sources  of 
water,  till  whole  villages  are  destroyed  by  some 
fearful  fall  of  overhanging  rocks  (see  chapter 
iii.,  pages  96-101).  Her  winds  and  gentle 
breezes  are  for  ever  at  work  on  their  surfaces, 
causing  them  to  crumble  into  dust  much  in 
the  same  way  as  iron  turns  to  rust. 

Again,  she  heats  them  by  day  and  then  chills 
them  suddenly  at  night,  under  the  cold  starry 
sky,  so  that  they  crack  under  the  strain  of  ex- 
panding and  contracting.  Now  she  splits  them 
with  her  ice-wedges  ;  now  she  furrows  their  sides 
with  the  dashing  torrents  and  running  streams ; 
and  yet  again  she  wears  them  gently  down  with 
her  glaciers,  and  carries  away  their  debris  —  the 
token  of  her  triumph  —  on  those  icy  streams,  as 
conquering  armies  carry  the  spoils  in  procession. 

This  is,  briefly,  her  mode  of  warfare ;  these 
are  some  of  her  tools,  wind,  rain,  frost,  snow, 
heat  and  cold,  streams,  rivers,  and  glaciers.  Light- 
ning does  occasionally  break  off  portions  of  a 
cliff  or  a  mountain-peak ;  but  compared  to  the 
others,  this  agent  is  not  very  important. 

Let  us  first  inquire  into  the  effects  produced 
by  the  atmosphere.     The  air  around  us  is  com- 


How  the  Mountains  were  carved  out.     209 

posed  mainly  of  two  well-known  gases ;  namely, 
oxygen  and  nitrogen.  There  is  also  a  small 
proportion  (about  one  in  ten  thousand)  of  car- 
bonic acid  gas  ;  a  variable  quantity  of  water- 
vapour,  and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  towns, 
traces  of  other  noxious  gases,  such  as  sulphur- 
ous acid  and  chlorine. 

Now,  the  nitrogen  plays  a  very  unimportant 
part,  as  it  merely  serves  to  dilute  the  powerful 
gas,  oxygen,  which  has  such  important  life-sus- 
taining properties.  We  live  by  breathing  oxy- 
gen ;  so  do  all  animals ;  and  the  more  pure  air 
we  can  contrive  to  get  into  our  lungs,  the  better. 
But  undiluted  oxygen  would  be  too  strong  for 
us,  and  so  its  strength  is  diminished  by  being 
mixed  with  four  parts  of  nitrogen  ;  that  is  to 
say,  the  air  only  contains  about  one  fifth  by 
volume,  or  bulk,  of  oxygen  and  four  fifths  of 
nitrogen. 

Now,  oxygen,  being  always  ready  to  combine 

chemically  with  some  other  element,  is  a  great 

agent  of  change  and  decay.     It  attacks  all  the 

metals  except  gold  and  platinum.     Iron,  we  all 

know,  oxidises,  or  rusts,  only  too  quickly ;  but 

copper,  lead,  silver,  and  other  metals  are  more  or 

less  attacked  by  it.     So  it  is  with  all  the  rocks 

u 


210  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

exposed  at  or  near  the  surface  of  the  earth. 
Oxygen  will,  if  it  can,  pick  out  something  to 
combine  with  and  so  bring  about  chemical 
changes  which  lead  to  decay.  But  a  much  more 
powerful  agent  is  the  carbonic  acid  gas  in  the 
atmosphere ;  although  there  is  so  little  of  it, 
there  is  enough  to  play  a  very  important  part 
in  causing  rocks  to  crumble  away,  and  in  some 
cases  to  dissolve  them  entirely.  The  supply  of 
this  gas  is  continually  being  renewed,  for  all 
living  animals  breathe  out  carbonic  acid,  and 
plants  give  it  out  by  night.  Under  the  in- 
fluence of  sunlight  plants  give  out  oxygen,  so 
that  gas  is  supplied  to  the  air  by  day. 

Both  oxygen  and  carbonic  acid  gas  are  dis- 
solved by  rain  as  it  falls  through  the  air ;  and  so 
we  cannot  separate  the  effects  of  the  dry  air  by 
itself  from  those  of  rain  and  mist,  which  are 
more  important  agents.  The  action  of  rain  is 
partly  mechanical,  partly  chemical,  for  it  not 
only  beats  against  them,  but  it  dissolves  out  cer- 
tain mineral  substances  that  they  contain. 

All  rocks  are  mixtures  of  two  or  more  kinds 
of  minerals,  the  particles  of  each  being  often 
invisible  to  the  naked  eye.  Thus  granites  are 
essentially  mixtures  of  felspar,  quartz,  and  mica ; 


How  the  Mountains  were  carved  out.     211 

ordinary  volcanic  rocks  ("  trap-rocks  ")  of  felspar 
and  augite ;  sandstones  consist  mainly  of  parti- 
cles of  silica ;  limestones  of  carbonate  of  lime ; 
shales  and  slates  of  silicate  of  alumina,  the  prin- 
cipal substance  in  clay.  These  grains  are  usually 
joined  together  by  a  cement  of  some  mineral 
differing  more  or  less  from  the  other  particles. 
Lime  is  found  in  many  of  the  rocks  as  the  cement 
that  binds  their  particles  together ;  while  oxide 
of  iron  and  silica  serve  this  purpose  in  many 
other  instances.  Now,  if  the  lime  or  iron  or 
silica  is  dissolved  by  water,  the  rock  must  tend 
to  crumble  away.  Any  old  building  shows  more 
or  less  manifold  signs  of  such  decay,  and  this 
process  is  called  "  weathering/'  All  this  ap- 
plies merely  to  the  surfaces  of  rocks  ;  and  if  there 
were  no  other  forces  at  work,  their  rate  of  decay 
would  be  very  slow. 

But  there  are  other  forces  at  work.  In  the 
first  place,  sudden  changes  of  temperature  have  a 
destructive  influence.  If  the  sun  shines  brightly 
by  day,  the  rocks  —  especially  in  higher  moun- 
tain regions  —  are  considerably  expanded  by  the 
heat  they  receive  ;  and  if  a  hot  day  is  followed 
by  a  clear  sky  at  night,  the  free  radiation  of 
heat  into  space  (see  chap,  ii.,  p.  39)  causes  them  to 


212  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

become  very  cold,  and  in  cooling  down  they  con- 
tract. In  this  way  an  internal  strain  is  set  up 
which  is  often  greater  than  they  can  bear,  and 
so  they  split  and  crack.  Thus  small  pieces  of 
rock  are  detached  from  a  mountain-side.  An 
Alpine  traveller  told  the  writer  that  one  night 
when  sleeping  on  a  mountain-side,  he  heard 
stones  rattling  down  at  frequent  intervals.  Liv- 
ingstone records  in  his  journal  that  when  in  the 
desert  he  frequently  heard  stones  splitting  at 
night  with  a  report  like  that  of  a  pistol.  But 
sometimes  the  expansion  by  day  is  sufficient  to 
cause  fragments  of  rock  to  be  broken  off. 

Frost,  howTever,  is  responsible  for  a  vast  amount 
of  destruction  among  rocks.  When  water  freezes, 
it  expands  with  tremendous  force  ;  and  this  is  the 
reason  why  water-pipes  so  frequently  burst  dur- 
ing a  frost,  though  we  don't  find  it  out  until 
the  thaw  comes,  —  followed  by  long  plumbers* 
bills.  Rocks,  being  traversed  in  several  direc- 
tions by  cracks,  allow  the  water  to  get  into 
them,  and  this  in  freezing  acts  like  a  very  pow- 
erful wedge ;  and  so  the  rocks  on  the  higher 
parts  of  the  mountains  are  continually  being 
split  up  by  Nature's  ice-wedge. 

The  amount  of  rock  broken  up  in  this  way 


How  the  Mountains  were  carved  out.     213 

every  year  is  enormous.  Stone  walls  and  build- 
ings often  suffer  greatly  from  this  cause  during 
a  long  frost,  especially  if  the  stone  be  of  a  more 
than  usually  porous  kind,  that  can  take  up  a 
good  deal  of  rain  water. 

Where  trees,  shrubs,  etc.,  grow  on  rocks,  the 
roots  find  their  way  into  its  natural  divisions, 
widened  by  the  action  of  rain  soaking  down  into 
them ;  and  as  they  grow,  they  slowly  widen  them, 
and  in  time  portions  are  actually  detached  in 
this  manner.  Moreover,  the  roots  and  rootlets 
guide  the  rain  water  down  into  the  cracks,  or 
joints,  as  they  are  called.  Even  the  ivy  that 
creeps  over  old  ruined  walls  has  a  decidedly 
destructive  effect. 

At  the  base  of  every  steep  mountain  may  be 
seen  heaps  of  loose  angular  stones ;  sometimes 
these  are  covered  with  soil,  and  form  long  slopes 
on  which  trees  and  shrubs  grow.  Every  one  of 
the  numerous  little  gullies  that  furrow  the  moun- 
tain-sides has  at  its  lower  end  a  similar  little 
heap  of  stones.  Sometimes  a  valley  among  the 
mountains  seems  half  choked  with  rocky  frag- 
ments ;  and  if  these  were  all  removed,  the  valley 
would  be  deeper  than  it  is.  In  some  hot  coun- 
tries,  where  the  streams  only  flow  in  winter, 


214  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

this  is  especially  the  case;  for  example,  every 
valley,  or  "  wady,"  in  the  region  of  Mount  Sinai 
and  Mount  Horeb  is  more  or  less  choked  up  with 
boulders  and  stones  of  every  size,  because  the 
stones  come  down  faster  than  they  can  be  carried 
away. 

But  the  main  work  of  carving  out  the  hills 
and  mountains  of  the  world  is  done  by  streams, 
rivers,  and  glaciers ;  and  so  we  now  pass  on  to 
consider  how  they  perform  their  tasks.  Water 
by  itself,  even  when  flowing  fast,  would  be  pow- 
erless to  carve  gorges  and  valleys  in  the  solid 
rock ;  but  the  stones  which  torrents  and  streams 
carry  along  give  them  a  marvellous  grinding 
power,  for  with  such  material  a  stream  continu- 
ally wears  away  its  rocky  bed.  Moreover,  the 
stones  themselves  are  all  the  while  being  rubbed 
down  by  each  other,  until  finally  they  are  ground 
down  to  fine  sand  and  mud,  which  help  in  the 
work  of  erosion. 

Every  mountain  stream  or  torrent  runs  in 
a  ravine  or  valley  of  some  sort ;  and  any  trav- 
eller who  will  take  the  trouble  to  watch  what 
goes  on  there  may  easily  convince  himself 
that  the  ravine,  gorge,  or  valley  has  been 
carved  out  by  the  stream,  aided  by  the  atmos- 


How  the  Mountains  were  carved  out.     215 

pheric  influences  to  which  we  have  already 
alluded. 

But  perhaps  some  may  be  inclined  to  look 
upon  the  ravine  as  a  chasm  produced  by  some 
violent  disturbance  from  below,  whereby  the 
rocks  were  rent  asunder,  and  that  the  stream 
somehow  found  its  way  into  the  rent.  A  little 
inquiry  will  dispel  this  idea.  In  the  first  place, 
such  catastrophes  are  quite  unknown  at  the 
present  day ;  and  as  we  have  more  than  once 
pointed  out,  the  geologist's  method  is  to  apply 
a  knowledge  of  processes  now  in  operation  to 
the  phenomena  of  the  rocks,  in  order  to  read 
their  history.  Secondly,  no  conclusion  can  be 
accepted  which  is  not  supported  strongly  by 
evidence. 

If  such  a  rending  of  the  rocks  had  taken 
place,  there  would  assuredly  be  some  evidence 
of  the  fact.  We  should  expect  to  find  a  great 
crack  running  all  along  the  bed  of  the  stream  ; 
but  of  this  there  is  no  sign.  Go  down  in  any 
weather  when  the  stream  is  low,  and  look  at  the 
rocks  over  which  it  flows,  and  you  will  search 
in  vain  for  such  evidence.  Instead  of  being 
broken,  the  rocks  extend  continually  across. 
You  would  also  expect  to  find  the  strata  "  dip- 


216  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

ping,"  or  sloping  away  from  the  stream  on 
each  side,  if  they  had  been  rent  by  such  an 
upheaval ;  but  here  again  we  are  met  by  a 
total  want  of  evidence.  Thirdly,  a  crack  might 
be  expected  to  run  along  more  or  less  evenly 
in  one  direction.  But  look  at  the  ravine,  fol- 
low it  up  for  some  miles,  and  you  will  see  that 
it  winds  along  in  a  very  devious  course,  not  in 
a  straight  line. 

For  these  reasons,  then,  we  must  conclude  that 
the  ravine  or  valley  has  been  carved  out  by  the 
stream ;  but  perhaps  the  most  convincing  argu- 
ments are  afforded  by  the  furrows  and  miniature 
ravines  so  frequently  met  with  on  the  sides  of 
all  mountains ;  and  it  is  impossible  to  exam- 
ine these  without  concluding  that  they  have 
in  every  case  been  cut  out  of  the  solid  rock  by 
the  little  rapid  torrents  that  run  along  them 
after  heavy  rain.  If  we  are  fortunate  enough 
to  see  them  on  a  thoroughly  rainy  day,  we 
may  derive  much  instruction  from  watching 
the  little  torrents  at  work  as  they  run  down 
the  mountain-side,  here  and  there  dashing 
over  the  rocks  in  little  cascades,  and  bringing 
down  to  the  base  of  the  hill  much  of  the 
debris    that   forms   higher   up.      In   this    way 


How  the  Mountains  were  carved  out.     217 

Nature  gives  us  an  "  object  lesson."  and  seems 
to  say :  "  Watch  me  at  work  here,  and  learn 
from  such  little  operations  how  I  work  on  a 
larger  scale,  and  carve  out  my  ravines  and 
big  valleys.  Only  give  me  plenty  of  time, 
and  I  can  accomplish  much  greater  feats  than 
this." 

The  question  of  time  is  no  longer  disputed  ; 
and  all  geologists  are  willing  to  grant  almost 
unlimited  time,  at  least  periods  of  time  that 
seem  to  us  unlimited.  Most  streams  have  been 
flowing  for  thousands  of  years ;  and  when  once 
we  grant  that,  we  find  no  difficulty  in  believing 
that  all  valleys  are  the  work  of  rain  and  rivers. 
Surely  no  one  would  argue  that  the  furrows  on 
a  mountain-side  are  all  rents  which  have  been 
widened  by  the  action  of  water ;  for  if  they 
were  rents,  each  must  have  been  caused  by 
some  disturbance  of  the  rocks  composing  the 
mountain,  and  we  should  of  course  be  able  to 
see  the  cracks  for  ourselves,  and  to  find  that 
the  rocks  had  in  some  way  been  disturbed 
and    rent   open. 

Even  the  rain  which  falls  on  the  road  in  a 
heavy  shower  teaches  the  same  simple  but 
important  lesson,  as  it  runs  off   into  the  gut- 


218  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

ters  on  each  side ;  and  we  may  often  find  the 
road  furrowed  by  little  miniature  rivers,  that 
carve  out  for  themselves  tiny  valleys  as  they 
run  off  into  the  gutter,  bringing  with  them 
much   debris  in   the  form   of    mud    and   sand. 

Sometimes  a  stream  encounters  in  its  course 
a  layer  of  rock  that  is  harder  than  the  rock  un- 
derlying it.  In  this  case  the  softer  rock  is  worn 
away  faster,  and  the  hard  layer  forms  a  kind  of 
ridge  at  a  higher  level;  the  result  is  a  water- 
fall. Waterfalls  are  frequently  found  in  moun- 
tain streams.  In  this  case,  it  is  easy  to  trace 
the  ridge  of  harder  rock  running  unbroken 
across  the  path  of  the  stream,  showing  clearly 
that  it  has  not  been  rent  in  any  way.  First 
it  showed  merely  as  a  kind  of  step,  but  grad- 
ually the  force  of  the  falling  water  told  with 
greater  effect  on  the  softer  rock  below,  wear- 
ing it  away  more  rapidly  than  that  above, 
and  so  the  depth  of  the  waterfall  went  on  in- 
creasing year  by  year ;  and  at  the  same  time 
the  hard  layer  was  slowly  worn  away  until 
the   stream    sawed   its    way    through. 

Some  river  valleys  are  steep  and  narrow; 
others  are  broad,  with  gently  sloping  sides. 
A  careful  study  of  the  different  valleys  in  any 


How  the  Mountains  were  carved  out.     219 

large  country  such  as  Great  Britain,  shows 
that  their  forms  vary  according  to  the  nature 
of  the  rocks  through  which  rivers  flow.  Where 
hard  rocks  abound,  the  valleys  are  steep  and 
narrow ;  where  soft  rocks  occur,  the  valleys 
are  broad  and  low.  This  is  only  what  might 
be  expected,  for  hard  rocks  are  not  easily  worn 
away ;  a  river  must  cut  its  way  through  them, 
leaving  cliffs  on  either  side  that  cannot  be 
wasted  away  by  rain.  But  in  a  district  where 
clay  or  soft  sandstone  occurs,  the  rain,  as  it 
finds  its  way  to  the  valley,  will  wash  them 
away  and  give  a  smooth  gentle  slope  to  the 
sides  of   the   valley. 

It  is  very  instructive  to  notice  how  the 
scenery  of  any  district  depends  on  the  na- 
ture of  its  prevailing  rocks.  Hard  rocks  give 
bold  scenery  with  steep  hills  and  rocky  de- 
files ;  while  soft  rocks  make  the  landscape  com- 
paratively flat  and  tame,  though  often  very 
beautiful  in  its  way,  especially  where  a  rich 
soil  abounds,  so  that  we  see  pleasant  woods, 
rich  pasture-land,  and  heavy  crops  in  the 
fields. 

Compare,  for  instance,  the  scenery  of  Kent 
or   Surrey  with   that  of  the  Lake  District   or 


220  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

the  west  of  Yorkshire.  The  difference  is  due 
chiefly  to  the  fact  that  in  Kent  and  Surrey 
we  have  rocks  that  succumb  more  easily  to 
the  action  of  rain  and  rivers,  and  consequently 
are  worn  away  more  rapidly  than  the  harder 
rocks  in  the  north  country.  Geologists  have 
a  word  to  express  the  effects  of  this  wear 
and  tear ;  namely,  "  denudation/'  which  means 
a  stripping  off,  or  laying  bare. 

In  Kent  and  Surrey  the  agents  of  denudation 
(rain  and  rivers,  aided  by  the  effects  of  the 
air,  of  heat  and  cold,  and  so  on)  wrear  away 
the  whole  surface  of  the  country  in  a  tolera- 
bly even  and  uniform  manner,  because  there 
are  no  hard  rocks  for  them  to  contend  with. 
In  this  case  rain  washes  away  the  sides  of 
the  valleys  faster  than  the  river  can  carve  its 
bed,  consequently  the  valleys  are  shallow  com- 
pared to  their  width.  And  so  the  streams 
have  broad  valleys,  while  the  hills  are  smooth 
and  gently  rounded.  Chalk,  clay,  and  soft 
sandstone  abound  there.  The  two  latter  rocks 
are  washed  away  with  comparative  ease,  and 
the  chalk  is  dissolved ;  whereas  in  the  Lake 
District  we  have  very  much  harder  and  older 
rocks,  that  require  to  be   split  up  and  broken 


How  the  Mountains  were  carved  out,     221 

by  the  action  of  frost,  while  every  stream 
carves  out  for  itself  a  steep  valley,  and  great 
masses  of  hard  rock  stand  out  as  bold  hills 
or  mountains,  that  seem  to  defy  all  the  agents 
of  denudation.  Here  the  opposite  is  the  case, 
and  the  valleys  are  deepened  faster  than  they 
are  widened.  But  for  all  that,  a  vast  amount 
of  solid  rock  has  been  removed  from  the  sur- 
face there,  of  which  the  mountains  are,  as  it 
were,  but  fragments  that  have  escaped  the  gen- 
eral destruction.  Moreover,  the  rocks  in  this 
region  have  been  greatly  disturbed  and  crum- 
pled since  they  were  first  formed,  and  thereby 
thrown  into  various  shapes  that  give  certain 
peculiar  structures  more  or  less  capable  of 
resisting  denudation. 

Very  effective  illustrations  of  the  power  of 
rain  by  itself  are  afforded  by  the  "  earth 
pillars"  of  the  Tyrol,  and  "canons"  of  Col- 
orado. The  material  of  which  they  consist 
is  called  conglomerate,  because  it  is  com- 
posed of  stones  and  large  blocks  of  rock  with 
stiff  earth  or  clay  between.  All  the  taller 
ones  have  a  big  stone  on  the  top  which  pro- 
tects the  softer  material  below  from  being 
washed  away  by  heavy  rains ;   and  it  is  easily 


222  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

perceived  that  each  pillar  owes  its  existence 
to  the  stone  on  the  top,  which  prevents  the 
soft  materials  below  it  from  being  washed 
away.  When,  after  a  time,  the  weathering  of 
the  soft  strata  diminishes  the  support  of  the 
capping  boulders,  these  at  last  topple  over, 
and  the  pillar,  thus  left  unprotected,  becomes 
an  easy  prey  to  the  rain,  and  is  rapidly  washed 
away.  Some  of  the  pillars  are  over  a  hun- 
dred feet  in  height.  But  it  is  only  in  places 
where  heavy  rains  fall  that  these  interesting 
monuments  of  denudation  are  to  be  seen. 

By  way  of  contrast  we  may  turn  now  to  a 
district  in  which  very  little  rain  falls,  but 
where  the  streams  have  a  considerable  slope, 
and  so  can  wear  away,  or  erode,  their  val- 
leys much  faster  than  rain  and  frost,  etc.,  can 
bring  down  the  rocks  of  which  the  sides  are 
composed. 

The  river  Colorado  of  the  West,  which  runs 
from  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the  Gulf  of 
California,  flows  for  nearly  three  hundred  miles 
at  the  bottom  of  a  profound  chasm,  or  canon, 
being  hemmed  in  by  vertical  walls  which  in 
some  places  are  more  than  a  mile  in  depth. 
The  tributary  streams    flowing   into    the   river 


How  the  Mountains  were  carved  out.     223 

run  through  smaller  ravines  forming  side 
canons ;  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  these  won- 
derful chasms  have  been,  in  the  course  of 
ages,  slowly  carved  out  by  the  river  Colorado 
and  its  numerous  tributary  streams.  Some- 
times the  walls  of  the  canon  are  not  more 
than  fifty  yards  apart,  and  in  height  they  vary 
from  three  thousand  to  six  thousand  feet. 

Far  above  the  level  of  the  highest  floods 
patches  of  gravel  are  found  here  and  there 
on  the  sides,  which  must  have  been  left  there 
by  the  river  when  it  had  not  cut  its  way  so 
far  down.  These  canons  afford  striking  testi- 
mony to  the  erosive  power  of  running  water, 
of  which  they  are  the  most  wonderful  illus- 
tration in  the  world. 

But  water,  even  when  in  the  form  of  ice, 
has  more  or  less  power  to  wear  away  solid 
rock ;  and  the  glaciers  that  we  see  in  Switzer- 
land, Norway,  and  other  countries  must  slightly 
deepen  the  rocky  valleys  down  which  they  flow. 
Let  us  see  how  this  can  be  accomplished. 

The  snow  that  falls  in  the  High  Alps,  im- 
pelled by  the  weight  of  fresh  layers  of  snow 
overlying  it,  and  by  the  slope  of  the  mountain- 
sides, gradually  creeps   down  into  the  valleys. 


224  The  Story  of  the  Hills, 

Owing  to  the  pressure  thus  put  upon  it,  and 
partly  to  the  melting  power  of  the  sun's  rays, 
it  assumes  the  form  of  ice ;  and  glaciers  are 
composed  of  solid  ice.  The  downward  motion 
is  so  slow  that  a  glacier  appears  quite  station- 
ary; and  it  is  only  by  putting  in  stakes  and 
watching  them  change  their  positions  that  it 
can  be  shown  to  be  moving. 

In  all  respects  except  speed,  glaciers  flow 
like  rivers,  for  ice  is  a  viscous  body,  behaving 
partly  like  a  fluid  and  yet  partly  like  a  solid 
substance ;  but  it  will  not  endure  a  sharp 
bend  without  snapping.  Hence,  a  glacier  in 
traversing  a  valley  frequently  gets  split.  The 
cracks  thus  formed  widen  by  degrees  until 
they  expand  into  chasms,  or  "crevasses."  Like 
rivers,  glaciers  transport  a  large  amount  of 
rocky  matter  to  lower  levels,  and  at  the 
same  time  wear  away  and  deepen  their  rocky 
channels. 

Let  us  see  how  they  do  this  twofold  work  of 
transportation  and  erosion.  In  the  first  place,  a 
large  amount  of  debris  falls  onto  the  sides  of  a 
glacier  from  the  peaks,  precipices,  and  mountain- 
side along  which  it  flows.  Some  stones,  how- 
ever, fall  down  crevasses,  and  so  reach  the  bot- 


How  the  Mountains  were  carved  out.     225 

torn,  where  they  become  cemented  in  the  ice.  In 
this  way  they  are  slowly  carried  down  over  the 
rocky  floor  of  the  valley,  until  at  last  they  reach 
the  end  of  the  glacier,  where  in  the  warmer  air 
the  ice  melts  just  as  fast  as  it  creeps  down  ;  and 
there  they  will  be  left  to  form  a  heap  of  stones, 
sand,  and  mud. 

Large  blocks  of  stone,  quite  different  from  the 
rocks  on  which  they  lie,  are  very  numerous,  and 
are  called  "  erratics,"  since  they  are  evidently 
wanderers  from  a  distance.  Sometimes  such 
blocks  can  be  proved  to  have  been  brought 
many  miles  from  their  home  among  the  higher 
peaks.  The  long  lines  of  stones  and  mud  seen 
on  the  sides  of  a  glacier  are  called  "mo- 
raines," and  at  the  end  of  every  glacier  we  find 
a  big  heap  known  as  a  "terminal  moraine." 
But  the  stones  of  which  they  are  composed  are 
probably  not  to  be  entirely  accounted  for  in  this 
way.  Can  we  not  conceive  that  the  weight  and 
pressure  of  a  descending  glacier  may  be  sufficient 
to  break  off  many  protruding  portions  of  the 
rocky  bed  over  which  it  flows,  and  then  to  drag 
them  along  with  it?  This  seems  reasonable. 
Let  us  therefore  consider  the  materials  of  which 
moraines  are  composed  to  be  derived  partly  from 

15 


226  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

the  rocks  beneath  and  partly  from  those  above 
the  glacier.  But  whatever  their  origin,  such 
materials  must  inevitably  find  their  way  to  the 
end  of  the  glacier  and  be  added  to  the  big  heap 
there.  The  work  of  transportation  is  then  taken 
up  by  the  stream  which  always  flows  from  the 
end  of  a  glacier.  Such  streams  are  in  summer- 
time laden  with  fine  sediment,  which  gives  them 
a  milky  and  turbid  appearance. 

Thus  a  glacier  wears  away  the  rocks  over 
which  it  flows ;  rock  fragments  become  em- 
bedded in  the  ice,  and  these  are  the  tools  with 
which  a  glacier  does  its  work.  It  must  be 
granted  that  the  downward  movement  of  a 
great  mass  of  ice  is  irresistible,  and  conse- 
quently that  as  the  moving  glacier  slowly 
creeps  along,  it  must  inevitably  cause  the  stones 
which  it  thus  holds  to  grind  over  the  surface  of 
the  rock.  It  is  easy  to  imagine  the  effects  of 
this  grinding  action.  If  sand-paper,  rubbed  for 
a  minute  or  two  over  wood,  wears  down  and 
smooths  its  surface,  what  must  be  the  result  of 
all  these  stones,  together  with  sand  and  mud, 
grinding  over  the  rocky  bed  ? 

The  answer  to  this  question  is  found  in  ex- 
amining   the    rocks   over   which    glaciers    once 


How  the  Mountains  were  carved  out.     227 

flowed.  Now,  the  Swiss  glaciers  once  extended 
far  beyond  their  present  limits  ;  and  the  rocks  in 
the  lower  parts  of  their  present  valleys,  now 
free  from  ice,  show  unmistakable  signs  of  hav- 
ing been  considerably  worn  down.  The  corners 
and  angles  of  projecting  pieces  of  rock  have 
been  worn  away  until  the  once  rugged  outline 
has  become  wavy  and  round,  so  much  so  as  to 
produce  more  or  less  resemblance  to  the  backs  of 
sheep  lying  down.  Hence  the  name  roches  mon- 
tonnees,  by  which  rocks  of  this  shape  are  known. 
They  frequently  retain  on  their  surface  peculiar 
markings,  such  as  long  scratches  and  grooves 
which  must  have  been  made  as  the  old  glacier, 
with  its  embedded  angular  fragments  of  rock, 
slowly  ground  over  their  surfaces.  Such  mark- 
ings are  called  "striae.''  But  besides  these  glacial 
records  graven  on  the  rocks,  we  have  other 
evidence,  in  the  form  of  great  moraines  in  some 
of  the  valleys  of  Switzerland,  and  especially  at 
those  places  where  side  valleys  open  out  into  a 
main  valley.  Any  one  may  learn  by  a  little 
observation  to  recognise  these  peculiar  heaps  of 
stones,  mud,  and  sand,  deposited  long  ago  by  the 
old  glaciers  of  Switzerland. 

It  will  be  perceived  that  the  evidence  for  the 


228  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

erosive  power  of  glaciers  is  of  two  kinds, — 
first,  there  is  the  testimony  of  the  smoothed  and 
striated  rocks,  which  is  very  convincing ;  sec- 
ondly, the  equally  strong  proofs  from  the  mo- 
raines, both  great  and  small.  These  old  rubbish 
heaps  give  us  a  very  fair  idea  of  the  amount  of 
wear  and  tear  that  goes  on  under  a  glacier,  for 
there  we  see  the  rock  fragments  that  tumbled 
down  the  mountain-side  onto  the  surface  of  the 
glacier  (together  with  those  which  the  glacier 
tore  off  its  rocky  bed),  all  considerably  smoothed, 
worn  down,  and  striated.  But  a  still  better  idea 
of  the  work  done  is  afforded  by  the  gravel,  mud, 
and  sand  in  which  these  stones  are  embedded. 
All  this  finer  material  must  have  been  the  result 
of  wear  and  tear.  This  kind  of  action  may  well 
be  compared  to  what  takes  place  on  a  grindstone 
as  one  sharpens  an  axe  on  it.  The  water  poured 
on  the  stone  soon  becomes  muddy,  owing  to  the 
presence  of  countless  little  grains  of  sand  worn 
off  the  grindstone.  But  a  good  deal  of  the  mud 
thus  formed  is  carried  away  by  the  little  stream 
that  runs  out  from  the  end  of  every  glacier ;  so 
that  there  is  more  formed  than  we  see  in  the 
moraine. 

We  have  already  alluded  in  former  chapters 


How  the  Mountains  were  carved  out,     229 

to  the  "  Ice  Age  "  in  Britain,  when  great  glaciers 
covered  all  our  high  mountains,  and  descended 
far  and  wide  over  the  plains.  Now,  the  evidence 
for  the  former  existence  of  these  glaciers  is  of 
the  same  kind  as  that  which  we  have  just  de- 
scribed. In  Wales  and  Scotland  we  may  soon 
learn  to  recognise  the  roches  moatomiees,  the  old 
moraine  heaps,  and  the  erratic  boulders  brought 
down  by  these  old  glaciers.  Besides  these  proofs, 
there  is  also  the  evidence  of  the  arctic  plants  now 
flourishing  in  the  highlands  (see  chapter  iv., 
pages  123-124). 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  then,  that  glaciers  have 
an  erosive  action,  and  therefore  must  be  re- 
garded as  agents  of  denudation.  But  it  is  im- 
portant to  bear  in  mind  that  their  powers  in  this 
direction  are  limited ;  for  it  is  manifest  that  a 
mountain  stream  is  a  much  more  powerful  agent, 
and  will  deepen  its  little  valley  much  more 
rapidly,  than  a  cumbrous,  slow-moving  glacier, 
advancing  at  the  rate  of  a  few  inches  a  day.  It 
has  been  found  by  careful  measurements  that 
the  Mer  de  Glace  of  Chamouni  moves  during 
summer  and  autumn  at  the  average  daily  rate  of 
twenty  to  twenty -seven  inches  in  the  centre,  and 
thirteen  to  nineteen  and  one  half  inches  near  the 


230  The  Story  of  the  Hilts. 

side,  where  friction  somewhat  impedes  its  course. 
This  seems  very  slow  compared  to  the  rapid 
movement  of  a  mountain  stream ;  but  then,  a 
glacier  partly  makes  up  for  this  by  its  great 
weight. 

In  considering  a  glacier  as  an  agent  of  erosion, 
we  must  not  forget  that  probably  a  good  deal  of 
water  circulates  beneath  glaciers.  If  this  is  so, 
the  water  must  have  a  considerable  share  in  pro- 
ducing the  effects  to  which  we  have  already 
alluded.  It  would  be  extremely  rash  to  con- 
clude, as  some  students  of  glaciers  have  done, 
that  valleys  can  be  carved  out  entirely  by  glaciers  ; 
and  we  must  be  content  with  believing  that  they 
have  been  somewhat  deepened  by  ice-action, 
and  their  features  more  or  less  altered,  but  no 
more.  The  valleys  of  Switzerland,  of  Wales, 
and  Scotland,  were  probably  all  in  existence  be- 
fore the  period  of  the  "  Ice  Age,"  having  been 
carved  out  by  streams  in  the  usual  way  ;  but  the 
glaciers,  as  it  were,  put  the  final  touches  and 
smoothed  their  surfaces. 

Having  learned  how  the  three  agents  of  denu- 
dation —  namely,  rain,  rivers,  and  glaciers  —  ac- 
complish their  work,  let  us  now  take  a  wider  view 
of  the  subject  and  consider  the  results  of  their 


How  the  Mountains  were  carved  out,     231 

united  efforts  both  in  the  present  and  in  the 
past. 

We  have  already  alluded  to  the  enormous 
amount  of  solid  matter  brought  down  to  the 
sea  every  year  by  rivers  (see  chap,  v.,  pp.  166- 
168),  and  we  pointed  out  that  all  this  represents 
so  much  debris  swept  of!  the  land  through 
which  the  rivers  flow ;  also  that  it  comes 
down  in  three  ways,  one  part  being  suspended 
in  the  water  as  fine  mud,  another  part  being 
pushed  along  the  river-bed  as  gravel,  etc., 
while  a  third  part  is  the  carbonate  of  lime 
and  other  mineral  matter  in  a  dissolved  state, 
and  therefore  invisible. 

Now,  it  is  quite  plain  that  rain  and  rivers,  in 
sweeping  away  so  much  solid  matter  from  the 
surface  of  the  land,  must  tend  in  the  course  of 
time  to  lower  its  general  level ;  and  it  therefore 
seems  to  follow  that  after  the  lapse  of  ages  any 
given  continent  or  large  island  might  be  entirely 
washed  away,  or  in  other  words,  reduced  to  the 
level  of  the  sea.  This  would  certainly  happen 
were  it  not  that  the  lands  of  the  world  seem 
to  be  slowly  rising,  so  that  the  denudation  going 
on  at  the  surface  appears  to  be  counterbalanced 
by  continued  upheaval. 


232  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

But,  supposing  no  upheaval  took  place,  how 
long  would  it  take  for  rain  and  rivers  to  wear 
away  a  whole  continent  ?  Let  us  see  if  there  is 
any  way  of  answering  this  difficult  question,  for 
if  it  can  be  even  partially  solved,  it  will  help  us 
to  realise  the  enormous  length  of  time  that  must 
have  been  required  to  bring  about  the  results  of 
denudation  that  we  see  all  around  us. 

Although  the  calculations  that  have  been 
made  on  this  subject  are  very  complicated,  yet 
the  principle  on  which  they  are  based  is  quite 
simple.  For  an  answer  to  our  question  we 
must  go  to  the  rivers  again,  and  measure  the 
work  they  do  in  transporting  solid  matter 
down  to  the  sea.  Let  us  take  the  Mississippi  as 
a  typical  big  river,  for  it  has  been  more  carefully 
studied  than  any  other,  and  it  drains  a  very 
extensive  area,  embracing  many  varieties  of 
climate,  rock,  and  soil.  As  the  result  of  many 
observations  carried  on  continuously  at  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  river  for  months  together,  the 
engineers  who  conducted  the  investigation  found 
that  the  annual  discharge  of  water  by  this  river 
is  about  nineteen  thousand  millions  of  cubic  feet, 
and  that  on  the  average  the  amount  of  sediment 
it  contains  is  about  a  j-^^  part  by  weight. 


How  the  Mountains  were  carved  out.     233 

But  besides  the  matter  in  suspension,  they  ob- 
served that  a  large  amount  of  sand,  gravel,  and 
stones  is  being  constantly  pushed  along  the  bot- 
tom of  the  river.  This  they  estimated  at  over 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  cubic  feet. 
They  also  calculated  that  the  Mississippi  brings 
down  every  year  more  than  eight  hundred  thou- 
sand million  pounds  of  mud.  Putting  the  two 
together,  they  found  (as  before  stated)  that  the 
amount  of  solid  matter  thus  transported  down 
to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  may  be  represented  by  a 
layer  268  feet  high,  covering  a  space  of  one 
square  mile ;  that  is,  without  allowing  for  what 
is  brought  down  dissolved  in  the  water,  which 
may  be  neglected  in  order  to  prevent  any 
exaggeration. 

Now,  it  is  quite  clear  that  all  this  debris  must 
have  come  from  the  immense  area  that  is  drained 
by  the  Mississippi.  It  could  not  have  been  sup- 
plied by  any  rivers  except  those  that  are  its  trib- 
utaries. And  so  if  we  can  find  out  what  is  the 
extent  of  this  area,  it  is  not  difficult  to  calculate 
how  much  its  general  surface  must  have  been 
lowered,  or  in  other  words,  how  much  must  have 
been  worn  away  from  it  in  order  to  supply  all 
the  material.    This  area  is  reckoned  at  1,147,000 


234  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

square  miles ;  and  a  very  simple  calculation 
tells  us  that  the  general  surface  would  thus 
be  lowered  to  the  extent  of  6oVoth  Par^  °f  a 
foot.  That  of  course  means  that  one  foot 
would  be  worn  away  in  six  thousand  years.  On 
high  ground  and  among  mountains  the  rate 
of  denudation  would  of  course  be  much  greater ; 
but  we  are  now  dealing  with  an  average  for 
the  whole  surface. 

The  next  thing  we  require  to  finish  this 
calculation  is  the  average  or  mean  height  of 
the  American  continent.  This  was  reckoned 
by  the  celebrated  Humboldt  at  748  feet.  Now 
if  we  may  assume  that  all  this  continent  is  being 
worn  down  at  the  same  rate  of  one  foot  in  six 
thousand  years  (which  is  a  reasonable  assump- 
tion), we  find,  by  a  simple  process  of  multipli- 
cation, that  it  would  require  about  four  and  a 
half  millions  of  years  for  rain  and  rivers  to 
wash  it  all  away  until  its  surface  was  all  at  the 
sea-level  (with  perhaps  a  few  little  islands 
projecting  here  and  there  as  relics  of  its  vast 
denudation).  This  is  a  very  interesting  result ; 
and  if  the  above  measurements  are  reliable, 
they  afford  us  some  idea  of  the  rate  at  which 
denudation  takes  place  at  the  present  time. 


How  the  Mountains  were  carved  out.     235 

By  a  similar  process  it  has  been  calculated  the 
British  Isles  might  be  levelled  in  about  five  and 
a  half  millions  of  years.  Geologists  do  not  pre- 
tend to  have  solved  this  problem  accurately ; 
that  is  impossible  with  our  present  knowledge. 
But  even  as  rough  estimates  these  results  are 
very  valuable,  especially  when  we  come  to  study 
the  structure  of  the  land  in  different  countries, 
and  to  find  out  therefrom,  by  actual  measure- 
ment, how  much  solid  rock  has  been  removed. 
We  will  now  give  some  examples  of  this  ;  but 
perhaps  a  simple  illustration  will  make  our 
meaning  clearer. 

Suppose  we  picked  up  an  old  pair  of  boots,  and 
found  the  soles  worn  away  in  the  centre.  It 
would  be  easy  to  find  out  how  much  had  been 
worn  away  over  the  holes  by  simply  measuring 
the  thickness  of  leather  at  the  sides,  where  we 
will  suppose  that  they  were  protected  by  strong 
nails.  Geologists  apply  a  very  similar  kind  of 
method  in  order  to  find  out  how  much  rock  has 
been  removed  from  a  certain  region  of  the 
earth.  One  of  the  simplest  cases  of  this  kind 
is  that  of  the  area  known  as  the  Weald  of  Kent, 
Surrey,  and  Sussex  (see  illustration,  Fig.  1). 
A   great    deal  of   denudation  has  taken  place 


236 


The  Story  of  the  Hills. 


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How  the  Mountains  were  carved  out.     237 

here,  because  there  is  ample  evidence  to  prove 
that  the  great "  formation '  known  as  the  Chalk 
(now  seen  in  the  North  and  South  Downs)  once 
stretched  right  across ;  and  below  this  came 
the  lower  greensand  and  Weald  clay.  They 
spread  over  this  area  in  a  low  arch  of  which  we 
now  only  see  the  ruins. 

The  dotted  lines  in  the  figure  show  us  their 
former  extent ;  but  the  vertical  height  is  exag- 
gerated, for  otherwise  the  hills  would  scarcely 
be  seen. 

These  lines  simply  follow  out  the  curves 
taken  by  the  strata  at  each  end  of  the  denuded 
arch,  and  therefore  rightly  indicate  its  former 
height.  By  making  such  a  drawing  on  a  true 
scale,  geologists  can  easily  measure  the  former 
height  of  the  surface  of  this  old  arch,  or  "  anti- 
cline," of  chalk,  greensand,  and  other  strata, 
just  as  an  architect  might  restore  the  outlines 
of  an  old  traceried  window  from  a  few  portions 
left  at  the  sides. 

This  very  useful  and  instructive  method  is 
much  employed  in  drawing  sections  through 
mountain-chains,  in  order  to  gain  some  idea 
of  the  amount  of  denudation  which  they  have 
suffered. 


238  The  Story  of  the  Hills, 

Let  us  see  how  much  has  been  removed  from 
the  present  surface  of  the  Weald.  First  there 
is  the  chalk,  which  we  may  put  down  at  six  hun- 
dred feet  at  least ;  then  there  is  the  lower  green- 
sand,  say,  eight  hundred  feet ;  and  below  that, 
and  forming  the  lowest  ground  in  the  Weald,  is 
the  Weald  clay,  which  is  one  thousand  feet 
thick,  and  being  softer,  was  more  rapidly  borne 
away.  Along  the  centre  runs  a  ridge  of  Hast- 
ings sand,  forming  higher  ground  on  account 
of  its  greater  hardness,  but  this  formation  is 
not  much  denuded.  However,  adding  together 
the  thicknesses  of  the  others,  we  arrive  at  the 
conclusion  that  about  twenty-four  hundred  feet 
of  chalk  and  other  strata  has  been  removed 
from  the  present  surface  of  the  Weald.  And  all 
this  denudation  has  probably  been  effected  by 
rain  and  rivers,  for  it  is  very  doubtful  whether 
the  sea  had  any  share  in  this  work. 

But  in  other  parts  of  our  own  country  we 
find  proofs  of  denudation  on  a  much  grander 
scale  than  this  ;  for  example,  in  North  Wales 
there  are  rocks  now  lying  exposed  at %  the  sur- 
face which  are  of  a  very  much  greater  antiquity 
than  any  that  may  be  seen  in  the  Wealden  area, 
belonging  to  the  very  ancient  periods  known  as 


How  the  Mountains  were  carved  out.     239 

the  Cambrian  and  Silurian.  These  have  evi- 
dently been  exposed  for  a  much  longer  time 
to  the  action  of  denuding  forces;  and  the  Welsh 
hills,  as  we  now  see  them,  are  but  fragments 
of  what  they  once  were.  After  carefully  map- 
ping out  the  rocks  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Snowdon,  noting  their  thickness,  the  directions 
in  which  they  slope,  or  "  dip,"  so  that  the  struc- 
ture of  this  region  might  be  ascertained,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  Weald,  it  was  found,  on  drawing 
sections  of  the  rocks  there,  and  putting  in  dotted 
lines  to  continue  the  curves  and  slopes  of  the 
strata  as  known  at  or  near  the  surface,  that 
from  fifteen  thousand  to  twenty  thousand  feet 
of  solid  rock  must  have  been  removed  (see  dia- 
grams, chapter  ix.,  p.  307).  Applying  the  same 
method  to  the  Lake  District,  it  has  been  calcu- 
lated that  the  amount  of  denudation  which 
that  beautiful  country  has  suffered  may  be  rep- 
resented by  twenty-six  thousand  feet.  Turning 
to  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  we  find  the 
American  geologists  estimate  that  a  thickness 
of  five  miles  has  been  removed  from  a  large 
part  of  the  Appalachian  chain  of  mountains 
(near  their  east  coast),  and  that  at  least  one 
mile   has  been   eroded   from  the  entire  region 


240  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

between   the    Rocky  and  Wahsatch  Mountains 
(see  chapter  ix.). 

In  conclusion,  we  must  bear  in  mind  that 
mountains,  in  spite  of  the  enormous  erosion  they 
have  suffered,  are  more  capable  of  resisting  the 
ever  active  agents  of  denudation  than  the  softer 
rocks  that  form  the  plains  and  lowlands,  and 
consequently  stand  out  in  bold  relief  from  other 
features  of  the  earth's  surface.  This  truth  has 
been  beautifully  expressed  in  the  following 
passage :  — 

"...  In  order  to  bring  the  world  into  the  form 
which  it  now  bears,  it  was  not  mere  sculpture  that 
was  needed ;  the  mountains  could  not  stand  for  a  day 
unless  they  were  formed  of  materials  altogether  dif- 
ferent from  those  which  constitute  the  lower  hills  and 
the  surfaces  of  the  valleys.  A  harder  substance  had 
to  be  prepared  for  every  mountain-chain,  yet  not  so 
hard  but  that  it  might  be  capable  of  crumbling  down 
into  earth,  fit  to  nourish  the  Alpine  forest  and  the 
Alpine  flowers ;  not  so  hard  but  that  in  the  midst  of 
the  utmost  majesty  of  its  enthroned  strength  there 
should  be  seen  on  it  the  seal  of  death,  and  the  writing 
of  the  same  sentence  that  had  gone  forth  against  the 
human  frame, '  Dust  thou  art  and  unto  dust  thou  shalt 
return.'  And  with  this  perishable  substance  the  most 
majestic  forms  were  to  be  framed  that  were  consistent 


How  the  Mountains  were  carved  out.     241 

with  the  safety  of  man,  and  the  peak  was  to  be  lifted 
and  the  cliff  rent  as  high  and  as  steeply  as  was  possi- 
ble, in  order  yet  to  permit  the  shepherd  to  feed  his 
flocks  upon  the  slope,  and  the  cottage  to  nestle  beneath 
their  shadow."  * 

1  Modern  Painters. 


16 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

VOLCANIC    MOUNTAINS. 

'  T  is  said  Enceladus'  huge  frame, 

Heart-stricken  by  the  avenging  flame, 

Is  prisoned  here,  and  underneath 

Gasps  through  each  vent  his  sulphurous  breath.; 

And  still  as  his  tired  side  shifts  round, 

Trinacia  echoes  to  the  sound 

Through  all  its  length,  while  clouds  of  smoke 

The  living  soul  of    ether  choke. 

Virgil:  JEneid  Hi. 

In  some  parts  of  the  world  we  meet  with  moun- 
tains of  a  very  different  kind  from  any  we  have 
yet  considered,  —  mountains  that  are  known  at 
times  to  send  forth  fiery  streams  of  glowing 
lava,  and  to  emit  with  terrific  force  great  clouds 
of  steam.  Such  mountains  have  long  been 
known,  in  popular  but  unscientific  language,  as 
"  burning  mountains,"  x  —  a  term  which  is  unfor- 
tunate, because  they  do  not  burn  in  the  proper 
sense  of  the  word,  like  candles  or  gas-jets. 
They  are  better  known  as  volcanoes.  There 
are  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  known  active 

1  See  papers  by  the  writer  on  Volcanoes  and  Volcanic  Action 
in  "Knowledge  "  for  May  and  June,  1891,  on  which  this  chapter 
is  partly  based. 


Volcanic  Mountains.  243 

volcanoes ;  and  if  we  include  all  mountains  that 
once  were  in  that  state,  the  number  is  about  one 
thousand. 

Such  mountains  are  connected  in  a  curious  way 
with  those  upheaved  ridges  of  the  world  known 
as  mountain-chains  (see  chap.  vi.,  p.  191).  And 
not  only  are  many  mountains  more  or  less  pene- 
trated and  intersected  by  rocks  of  an  igneous 
origin  (see  chap,  v.,  p.  155),  but  some  have  been 
largely  formed  by  the  action  of  old  volcanoes. 
In  fact,  there  are  hills  in  Great  Britain  and 
parts  of  Europe,  in  America,  and  other  countries, 
that  once  were  actual  volcanoes  (see  page  277). 

We  must  briefly  consider  these  strange  moun- 
tains so  different  from  others,  and  see  what  we  can 
find  out  about  them.  Let  us  first  inquire  how  a 
volcano  is  made,  then  consider  what  a  volcano 
does ;  that  is,  we  must  view  it  as  a  geological 
agent  that  has  a  certain  definite  part  to  play  in 
the  economy  of  the  world.  And  lastly,  we  may 
glance  at  some  of  the  old  volcanoes,  and  see  what 
they  were  doing  in  those  long  ages  of  the  world 
during  which  the  great  series  of  the  stratified 
rocks  were  formed, —  which  rocks  are,  as  it  were, 
the  book  in  which  the  earth  has  written  her 
autobiography. 


244  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

In  old  days  volcanoes  were  regarded  with 
superstitious  awe ;  and  any  investigation  of 
their  actions  would  have  been  considered  rash 
and  impious  in  the  highest  degree.  Mount  Etna, 
as  Virgil  tells  us,  was  supposed  to  mark  the  spot 
where  the  angry  gods  had  buried  Enceladus, 
one  of  the  rebellious  giants.  Volcano,  a  certain 
"  burning  mountain "  in  the  Lipa  Islands,  was 
likewise  called  the  forge,  or  workshop,  of  Vulcan 
(or  Volcan),  the  god  of  fire.  And  so  it  comes 
about  that  all  "  burning  mountains  '  take  their 
name  from  this  one  Mediterranean  island,  and 
at  the  same  time  tell  us  of  the  mythological 
origin  of  the  word.  It  has  been  said  that  words 
are  "  fossil  thoughts  ;"  and  we  have  here  an  old 
and  very  much  fossilised  thought,  —  a  kind  of 
thought  long  since  extinct  among  civilised 
peoples,  and  one  which  is  never  likely  to  come 
to  life  again. 

A  volcanic  mountain  consists  of  alternating 
sheets  of  lava  and  volcanic  ashes,  mantling 
over  each  other  in  an  irregular  way,  and  all 
sloping  away  from  the  centre.  In  the  centre 
is  a  pit  or  chimney,  widening  out  towards  the 
top  so  as  to  resemble  a  funnel  or  cup ;  hence 
the   name   "crater,"  which   means  a  cup.     In 


Volcanic  Mountains.  245 

the  centre  of  this  crater  a  very  small  cone 
("minor  cone")  is  frequently  found;  and  it 
is  interesting  to  find  that  many  of  the  moon's 
volcanic  craters  possess  these  "  minor  cones." 
A  number  of  cracks  or  fissures  intersect  the 
volcano.  These  frequently  spread  out  from 
the  centre  of  the  mountain  in  all  directions, 
like  the  spokes  of  a  wheel.  They  generally 
get  filled  with  lava  that  wells  up  from  below, 
thus  forming  "dykes,"  which  may  be  regarded 
as  so  many  sheets  of  igneous  rock,  such  as 
basalt,  that  have  forced  their  way  while  still 
liquid  in  among  the  layers  of  lava  and  ashes. 
The  word  "ash':  is  used  by  geologists  in  a  spe- 
cial sense ;  and  volcanic  ash  is  not,  as  might 
be  supposed,  a  deposit  of  cinders,  but  mostly 
of  dust  of  various  degrees  of  fineness,  and 
sometimes  it  is  very  fine  indeed.  Pieces  of 
pumice-stone  may  be  embedded  in  a  layer 
of  volcanic  ash,  and  sometimes  great  blocks 
of  stone  that  have  been  shot  out  of  the  vol- 
cano as  from  a  big  gun,  but  these  only  form 
a  small  part  of  the  layer.  Dykes  strengthen 
the  mountain,  and  tend  to  hold  it  together 
when  violently  shaken  during  an  eruption. 
The   shape   and   steepness   of  a  volcano  de- 


9 

246  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

pend  on  the  nature  of  the  materials  ejected. 
The  finer  the  volcanic  ash,  the  steeper  and 
more  conical  is  the  mountain.  The  building 
up  of  a  volcano  may  be  fairly  illustrated  by 
the  little  cone  of  sand  formed  in  an  hour- 
glass as  the  sand-grains  fall.  These  settle 
down  at  a  certain  slope,  or  angle,  at  which 
they  can  remain,  instead  of  falling  down  to 
the  bottom,  as  they  do  directly  this  slope  is 
exceeded.  Some  volcanoes  are  built  up  almost 
entirely  of  volcanic  ash  and  its  embedded 
blocks.  Vesuvius,  Teneriffe,  Jorullo,  in  Mex- 
ico, and  Cotopaxi,  in  the  Andes,  are  exam- 
ples of  steep  volcanic  cones  built  up  in  this 
way.  Others,  less  steep  and  more  irregular 
in  shape,  are  chiefly  formed  of  successive 
lava-flows.  Little  minor  cones  are  frequently 
formed  on  the  side  of  a  volcano ;  and  these 
during  an  eruption  give  rise  to  small  out- 
bursts of  their  own.  They  are  easily  ac- 
counted for  by  the  dykes  which  are  mentioned 
just  now ;  for  when  molten  rock  forces  its 
way  through  fissures,  it  sometimes  finds  an 
outlet  at  the  surface,  and  being  full  of  steam, 
as  soda-water  is  full  of  gas,  it  gives  rise  to 
an  eruption.     The  great  opening  in  the  centre 


Volcanic  Mountains.  247 

of  a  volcano,  with  its  molten  lava,  is  like  a 
very  big  dyke  that  has  reached  the  surface 
and  so  succeeded  in  producing  an  eruption. 

The  opening  of  a  soda-water  bottle  not  in- 
frequently illustrates  a  volcanic  eruption  ;  for 
when  the  pent-up  carbonic  acid  cannot  escape 
fast  enough,  it  forces  out  some  of  the  water, 
even  when  the  bottle  is  held  upright. 

Every  volcano  has  been  built  up  on  a  plat- 
form of  ordinary  stratified  rocks ;  and  at  some 
period  after  these  had  been  laid  down  in 
water  and  raised  up  into  dry  land,  molten 
rock  found  its  way  through  them,  and  so  the 
volcano  was  built  up  by  successive  eruptions 
during  many  years.  It  is  probable  that  earth- 
quake shocks,  preceding  the  first  eruption, 
cracked  up  these  strata,  and  so  made  a  way 
for  the  lava  to  come  up. 

The  main  point  we  wish  to  emphasize  is 
that  volcanoes  are  never  formed  by  upheaval. 
In  this  way  they  differ  from  all  other  moun- 
tains. They  have  not  been  made  by  the  heav- 
ing up  of  strata,  but  have  been  gradually 
piled  up,  something  like  rubbish  heaps  that 
accumulate  in  the  Thames  barges  as  the  dust- 
men empty  their  carts  into  them,  only  in  the 


248  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

case  of  volcanoes  the  "  rubbish '  comes  from 
below.  It  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  that 
the  reservoir  down  below,  from  which  the  mol- 
ten rock  is  supplied,  exists  at  any  very  great 
depth  below  the  original  land  surface  on 
which  the  volcano  grows  up. 

The  old  "upheaval  theory'  of  volcanoes, 
once  advocated  by  certain  authorities,  instead 
of  being  based  on  actual  evidence  or  on  rea- 
soning from  facts,  was  a  mere  guess.  More- 
over, if  the  explanation  we  have  given  should 
not  be  sufficiently  convincing,  there  is  good 
proof  furnished  by  the  case  of  a  small  vol- 
cano near  Vesuvius,  the  building  of  which 
was  actually  witnessed.  It  is  called  Monte 
Nuovo,  or  the  New  Mountain.  It  is  a  little 
cone  430  feet  high,  on  the  bank  of  Lake 
Averno,  with  a  crater  more  than  a  mile  and  a 
half  wide  at  the  base.  It  was  almost  entirely 
formed  during  a  single  night  in  the  year 
1538,  a.  d.  We  have  two  accounts  of  the 
eruption  to  which  it  owes  its  existence ;  and 
each  writer  says  distinctly  that  the  mountain 
was  formed  by  the  falling  of  stones  and 
ashes. 

One  witness  says,  — 


Volcanic  Mountains.  249 

"  Stones  and  ashes  were  thrown  up  with  a  noise 
like  the  discharge  of  great  artillery,  in  quantities 
which  seemed  as  if  they  would  cover  the  whole 
earth ;  and  in  four  days  their  fall  had  formed  a 
mountain  in  the  valley  between  Monte  Barbaro  and 
Lake  Averno,  of  not  less  than  three  miles  in  cir- 
cumference, and  almost  as  high  as  Monte  Barbaro 
itself,  —  a  thing  incredible  to  those  who  have  not 
seen  it,  that  in  so  short  a  time  so  considerable  a 
mountain  should  have  been  formed." 

Another  says,  — 

"  Some  of  the  stones  were  larger  than  an  ox. 
The  mud  (ashes  mixed  with  water)  was  at  first 
very  liquid,  then  less  so,  and  in  such  quantities 
that  with  the  help  of  the  afore-mentioned  stones  a 
mountain  was  raised  one  thousand  paces  in  height." 

(The  writer's  astonishment  led  him  greatly  to 
exaggerate  the  height.) 

These  accounts  are  important  as  showing  how 
in  a  much  longer  time  a  big  volcano  may  be 
built  up.  From  such  small  operations  we  learn 
how  Nature  works  on  a  large  scale.  The  great 
volcano  in  Mexico  known  as  Jorullo  was  pro- 
bably built  up  in  a  very  similar  way.  There  is 
a  tradition  among  the  natives  that  it  was  made 
in  two  or  three  days ;  but  we  can  hardly  believe 


250  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

that.  Volcanoes,  as  they  get  older,  tend  to  grow 
taller  and  bigger;  but  every  now  and  then  a 
large  portion  may  be  blown  away  by  some 
great  eruption,  and  they  have,  as  it  were,  to 
begin  again. 

Let  us  now  consider  volcanoes  as  geological 
agents,  and  see  what  they  do.  A  volcanic  erup- 
tion may  be  described  in  a  general  way  as  fol- 
lows :  Its  advent  is  heralded  by  earthquakes 
affecting  the  mountain  and  the  whole  country 
round  ;  loud  underground  explosions  are  heard, 
resembling  the  fire  of  distant  artillery.  The 
vibrations  are  chiefly  transmitted  through  the 
ground  ;  the  mountain  seems  convulsed  by  in- 
ternal throes,  due,  no  doubt,  to  the  efforts  of 
the  imprisoned  steam  and  liquid  rock  to  find  an 
opening.  These  signs  are  accompanied  by  the 
drying  up  of  wells  and  disappearance  of  springs, 
since  the  water  finds  its  way  down  new  cracks 
in  the  rocks,  caused  by  the  frequent  shocks  and 
quiverings.  When  at  last  an  opening  has  been 
made,  the  eruption  begins,  —  generally  with  one 
tremendous  burst  that  shakes  the  whole  moun- 
tain down  to  its  foundations.  After  this,  fre- 
quent explosions  follow  with  great  rapidity  and 
increasing  violence,  generally  from  the  crater. 


Volcanic  Mountains.  251 

These  are  indicated  by  the  globular  masses  of 
steam  which  are  to  be  seen  rising  up  in  a  tall 
column  like  that  which  issues  from  the  funnel 
of  a  locomotive.  But  sometimes  the  whole 
mountain  seems  to  be  more  or  less  engaged 
in  giving  out  steam,  and  thus  to  be  partly 
enveloped  in  it.  This  is  illustrated  by  our  en- 
graving from  an  instantaneous  photograph  of 
Vesuvius  in  eruption  'in  the  year  1872.  The 
steam  and  other  gases,  in  their  violent  ascent, 
hurl  up  into  the  air  a  great  deal  of  solid  rock 
from  the  sides  of  the  central  opening,  after  first 
blowing  out  the  stones  which  previously  stopped 
up  the  orifice. 

Blocks  of  stone  falling  down  meet  with  others 
coming  up  ;  and  so  a  tremendous  pounding  action 
takes  place,  the  result  of  which  is  that  great 
quantities  of  volcanic  dust  and  ashes  are  pro- 
duced, generally  of  extreme  fineness.  Winds 
and  ocean  currents  transport  these  light  mate- 
rials for  long  distances.  The  observations  made 
during  the  famous  and  fruitful  voyage  of 
H.  M.  S.  "  Challenger  '  showed  that  fine  vol- 
canic dust  is  carried  by  wind  and  marine  cur- 
rents to  almost  all  parts  of  the  oceans.  The 
darkness  so  frequently  mentioned  in  accounts 


252  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

of  eruptions  —  sometimes  at  a  very  great  dis- 
tance from  the  volcano  —  is  entirely  caused  by 
clouds  of  volcanic  dust  hiding  the  light  of  the 
sun.  Perhaps  the  best  example  of  this  is  the 
case  of  the  eruption  of  Krakatoa  (in  the  Strait 
of  Sunda,  between  Sumatra  and  Java)  in  1883. 
Its  explosions  were  heard  in  all  directions  for 
two  thousand  miles,  and  a  perceptible  layer  of 
volcanic  dust  fell  at  all  places  within  one  thou- 
sand miles }  while  the  finest  dust  and  vapour, 
shot  up  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  high,  were  spread 
all  over  the  globe,  causing,  while  still  suspended 
in  the  atmosphere,  the  peculiar  red  sunsets 
noticed  in  all  parts  of  the  world  for  some 
months  after  the  eruption. 

Again,  those  very  curious  deposits  of  "  red 
clay  "  found  in  the  very  deepest  parts  of  the 
Pacific  and  Atlantic  oceans  (at  depths  of  about 
four  thousand  fathoms,  or  twenty-four  thousand 
feet)  have  been  shown  to  be  chiefly  composed 
of  volcanic  dust,  their  red  colour  being  due  to 
oxidised  iron. 

But  there  is  another  way  in  which  a  good 
deal  of  fine  volcanic  dust  is  made  ;  and  it  is 
this  :  the  lava  is  so  full  of  steam  intimately 
mixed  up  with  it  that  the  steam,  in  its  violent 


Volcanic  Mountains.  253 

effort  to  escape,  often  blows  the  lava  into  mere 
dust. 

Another  interesting  phenomenon  may  be  thus 
described :  Portions  of  liquid,  or  half  liquid, 
lava  are  caught  up  by  the  steam  and  hurled  into 
the  air.  These  assume  a  more  or  less  round 
form,  and  are  known  as  "  bombs."  At  a  dis- 
tance they  give  rise  to  the  appearance  of  flames. 
And  here  we  may  remark  that  the  flaring, 
coloured  pictures  of  Etna  or  Vesuvius  in  erup- 
tion, which  frequently  ma}^  be  seen,  are  by  no 
means  correct.  The  huge  flames  shooting  up 
into  the  air  are  quite  imaginary,  but  are  proba- 
bly suggested  by  the  glare  and  bright  reflection 
from  glowing  molten  lava  down  in  the  crater. 

So  great  is  the  force  of  the  pent-up  steam 
trying  to  escape  that  it  frequently  blows  a  large 
part  of  the  volcano  bodily  away  ;  and  in  some 
cases  a  whole  mountain  has  been  blown  to 
pieces. 

Finally,  torrents  of  rain  follow  and  accompany 
an  eruption,  —  a  result  which  clearly  follows 
from  the  condensation  of  large  volumes  of  steam 
expanding  and  rising  up  into  the  higher  and 
cooler  layers  of  the  atmosphere.  Vast  quanti- 
ties of  volcanic  ash  are  caught  up  by  the  rain, 


254  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

and  in  this  way  very  large  quantities  of  mud 
are  washed  down  the  sides  of  the  mountain. 

Sometimes  the  mud-flows  are  on  a  large 
scale,  and  descending  with  great  force,  bury 
a  whole  town.  It  was  mostly  in  this  way 
that  the  ancient  cities  of  Herculaneum  and 
Pompeii  were  buried  by  the  great  eruption 
of  Vesuvius  in  the  year  79  a.  d.,  in  which 
the  elder  Pliny  lost  his  life.  The  discoveries 
made  during  excavations  at  Pompeii  are  of 
verv  great  interest  as  illustrating  old  Roman 
life.  The  Italians  give  the  name  lava  cVac- 
qua,  or  water-lava,  to  flows  of  this  kind,  and 
they  are  greatly  dreaded  on  account  of  their 
great  rapidity.  An  ordinary  lava-stream  creeps 
slowly  along,  so  that  people  have  time  to  get 
out  of  the  way ;  but  in  the  case  of  mud-flows 
there  is  often  no  time  to  escape.  No  lava- 
stream  has  ever  reached  Pompeii  since  it  was 
first  built,  although  the  foundations  of  the 
town  stand  upon  an  old  lava-flood.  Hercula- 
neum is  nearer  to  Vesuvius,  and  has  at  times 
been  visited  by  lava-streams.  Mud-lavas,  ashes, 
and  lava-streams  have  accumulated  over  this 
city  to  a  depth  of  over  seventy  feet. 

Lava-streams  vary  greatly  in  size ;    in  some 


V.  Icanit   Mt  .  .  s.  -'.'- 

case?  the  lava,  escaping  from  a   ten    somes  fcc 

rest  before   rr     g  the        se  of   the   -":    es    of 

the  volcanc  ;  in  other  eases  a  lava-:::"  not 
only  reaches  the  plains  below,  but  t::t:"-  :  _ 
:       -      miles     jy&     the     sun  ing     : 

Hence    lava-sta     as      .      im     ri    l1    geologj 
agents.     Le:  as  k    k     t  some  famous  ins?1   :. 
TLr  most  si  -    3  flow  on  record  ¥    -   -.    - 

which  tool  place  :.:::.  5k  :a:  JoknE  ... 
Iceland,  in  the  year  1783.  In  this  sase  a 
number   of    stre     is  iss  from    the   v 

flooding  the  try   : widt     filling 

river    gorges    which    —  t.-    ::.    some  rks 

hundred  :—:  I  two  hundred  :.: 

i . :  _- __     ml      the    alluvial 
plains  in   lakes    ::'    :  rock   twelve   ::    uf- 

teen    miles   wide   and    ane    hnndb        fee:    ire 
Twc   sorrents  ::  "  ."     which  flowt      ..  -> 

positc  -     os  sprc    '      d  with  ~      dug  thi    > 

ness  aec  j  ::  the  :.   :    .      . :   rhe  .:  : 

—  _ 

t;    :  e; "  r  ;•. ---'.-       Hai    : .  .- 
don    '  place    in    the   5      Lb      : 

E i  sr"  1  the  cc      -  -    :       i  the  : 

L  of  L  .    :;    that    ;:     ^leuces-ei    r i 

t  i  :::•:  ;:     a  sal:  of  c :  n- 

m0 

sidei  ..  kness 


256  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

Sometimes,  when  the  lava  can  only  escape 
at  a  point  low  down  on  the  mountain,  a  foun- 
tain of  molten  rock  will  spout  high  into  the 
air.  This  has  happened  on  Vesuvius  and  Etna. 
But  in  an  eruption  of  Mauna  Loa,  in  the  Sand- 
wich Islands,  an  unbroken  fountain  of  lava, 
from  two  hundred  to  seven  hundred  feet  high 
and  one  thousand  feet  broad,  burst  out  at  the 
base  of  the  mountain;  and  again  in  April, 
1888,  the  same  thing  happened  on  a  still 
grander  scale.  In  this  case  four  fiery  foun- 
tains continued  to  play  for  several  weeks, 
sometimes  throwing  the  glowing  lava  to  a 
height  of  one  thousand  feet  in  the  air.  Surely 
there  can  be  no  more  wonderful  or  awful 
sight  than  this  in  the  world. 

The  volcanoes  of  Hawaii,  the  principal  island 
in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  often  send  forth  lava- 
streams  covering  an  area  of  over  one  hun- 
dred square  miles  to  a  depth  of  one  hundred 
feet  or  more ;  but  they  are  discharged  quite 
quietly,  like  water  welling  out  of  a  spring. 
Repeated  flows  of  this  kind,  however,  have  in 
the  course  of  ages  built  up  a  great  flat  cone 
six  miles  high  from  the  floor  of  the  ocean,  to 
form  this  lofty   island,   which    is    larger   than 


Volcanic  Mountains,  257 

Surrey ;  and  it  is  calculated  that  the  great 
volcanic  mountain  must  contain  enough  mate- 
rial to  cover  the  whole  of  the  United  States 
with  a  layer  of  rock  fifty  feet  deep. 

But  it  is  not  only  on  the  surface  of  the 
land  that  volcanic  eruptions  take  place ;  for  in 
some  cases  the  outbreak  of  a  submarine  erup- 
tion has  been  witnessed,  and  it  is  highly  prob- 
able that  in  past  geological  ages  many  large 
eruptions  of  this  nature  have  taken  place.  In 
the  year  1783,  an  eruption  took  place  about 
thirty  miles  off  the  west  coast  of  Iceland. 
An  island  was  built  up  from  which  glowing 
vapour  and  smoke  came  forth ;  but  in  a  year 
or  less  the  waves  had  washed  everything 
away,  leaving  only  a  submerged  reef.  The 
island  of  Santorin,  in  the  Greek  Archipelago, 
is  a  partly  submerged  volcano. 

But  in  some  cases  enormous  outpourings  of 
lava  have  taken  place,  not  from  volcanoes,  but 
from  openings  of  the  ground  here  and  there, 
and  more  usually  from  long  fissures  or  cracks 
in  the  rocks  lying  at  the  surface.  In  many 
cases  so  much  lava  has  quietly  welled  out  in 
this  way  that  the  old  features  of  the  land- 
scape   have    been    completely   buried   up,    and 


258  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

wide  plains   and  plateaux  formed  over   them. 
Sir  A.  Geikie  says, — 

"  Some  of  the  most  remarkable  examples  of  this 
type  of  volcanic  structure  occur  in  western  North 
America.  Among  these  that  of  the  Snake  River 
plain  in  Idaho  may  be  briefly  described. 

"  Surrounded  on  the  north  and  east  by  lofty  moun- 
tains, it  stretches  westward  as  an  apparently  bound- 
less desert  of  sand  and  bare  sheets  of  black  basalt. 
A  few  streams  descending  into  the  plain  from  the 
hills  are  soon  swallowed  up  and  lost.  The  Snake 
River,  however,  flows  across  it,  and  has  cut  out 
of  its  lava  bed  a  series  of  picturesque  gorges  and 
rapids. 

"  The  extent  of  country  which  has  been  flooded  with 
basalt  in  this  and  adjoining  regions  of  Oregon  and 
Washington  has  not  yet  been  accurately  surveyed, 
but  has  been  estimated  to  cover  a  larger  area  than 
France  and  Great  Britain  combined.  Looked  at 
from  any  point  on  its  surface,  one  of  these  lava 
plains  appears  as  a  vast  level  surface,  like  that  of  a 
lake  bottom.  This  uniformity  has  been  produced 
either  by  the  lava  rolling  over  a  plain  or  lake  bottom, 
or  by  the  complete  effacement  of  an  original,  undu- 
lating contour  of  the  ground  under  hundreds  of  feet 
of  lava  in  successive  sheets.  The  lava,  rolling  up 
to  the  base  of  the  mountains,  has  followed  the 
sinuosities  of  their  margin,  as  the  waters  of  a  lake 
follow  its  promontories  and  bays." 


Volcanic  Mountains,  259 

A  few  further  examples  of  mud-lavas  may 
be  mentioned  here.  Cotopaxi,  a  great  vol- 
cano in  Ecuador,  South  America,  with  a  height 
of  17,900  feet,  reaches  so  high  into  the  at- 
mosphere that  the  higher  parts  are  capped 
with  snow.  In  June,  1877,  a  great  eruption 
took  place,  during  which  the  melting  of  snow 
and  ice  gave  rise  to  torrents  of  mud  and 
water,  which  rushed  down  the  steep  sides  of 
the  mountain,  so  that  large  blocks  of  ice  were 
hurried  along.  The  villages  around  to  a  dis- 
tance of  about  seventy  miles  were  buried 
under  a  deposit  of  mud,  mixed  with  blocks  of 
lava,  ashes,  pieces  of  wood,  etc. 

Sometimes  a  volcano  discharges  large  quan- 
tities of  mud  directly  from  the  crater.  In  this 
case  the  mud  is  not  manufactured  by  the 
volcano  itself,  but  finds  its  way  through  fis- 
sures and  cracks  from  the  bed  of  the  neigh- 
bouring  sea  or  rivers  to  the  crater.  Thus,  in 
the  year  1691,  Imbaburu,  one  of  the  Andes  of 
Quito,  sent  out  floods  of  mud  containing  dead 
fish,  the  decay  of  which  caused  fever  in  the 
neighbourhood.  In  the  same  way  the  vol- 
canoes of  Java  have  often  buried  large  tracts 
of  fertile  country  under  a  covering  of  volcanic 
mud,  thus  causing  great  devastation. 


260  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

Vast  quantities  of  dust  are  produced,  as 
already  explained,  by  the  pounding  action  that 
takes  place  during  an  eruption,  as  portions 
of  rock  in  falling  down  meet  others  that  are 
being  hurled  into  the  air.  Striking  instances 
of  this  have  occurred  not  far  from  Great 
Britain.  Thus  in  the  year  1783,  during  an 
eruption  of  Skaptar  Jokull,  so  great  was  the 
amount  of  dust  thus  created  that  the  atmos- 
phere in  Iceland  was  loaded  with  it  for 
several  months.  Carried  by  winds,  it  even 
reached  the  northern  parts  of  Scotland,  and 
in  Caithness  so  much  of  it  fell  that  the  crops 
were  destroyed.  This  is  remarkable,  consider- 
ing that  the  distance  was  six  hundred  miles. 
Even  in  Holland  and  Norway  there  are  traces 
of  this  great  shower  of  dust  from  the  Ice- 
landic volcano. 

During  the  fearful  eruption  of  Tomboro,  a 
volcano  in  the  island  of  Sumbawa,  in  the 
Eastern  Archipelago,  in  1815,  the  abundance 
of  ashes  and  dust  ejected  caused  darkness 
at  midday  at  Java,  three  hundred  miles  away, 
and  even  there  the  ground  was  covered  to 
a  depth  of  several  inches.  In  Sumbawa  it- 
self the  part  of  the  island  joining  the  moun- 


Volcanic  Mountains.  261 

tain  was  entirely  desolated,  and  all  the  houses 
destroyed,  together  with  twelve  thousand  in- 
habitants. Trees  and  herbage  were  over- 
whelmed with  pumice  and  volcanic  dust.  The 
floating  pumice  on  the  sea  around  formed  a 
layer  two  feet,  six  inches  thick,  through  which 
vessels  forced  their  way  with  difficulty.  From 
such  facts  as  these  it  is  clear  that  if  in  past 
ages  volcanoes  have  been  so  powerfully  active  as 
they  are  now,  we  should  expect  to  find  lava- 
flows,  dykes,  and  great  deposits  of  volcanic  ash 
deposited  in  water  among  the  stratified  rocks ; 
and  such  is  the  case.  Many  large  masses  of 
rock  familiar  to  the  geologist,  and  often  forming 
parts  of  existing  mountains,  are  to  be  accounted 
for  either  as  great  lava-flows,  or  dykes  that 
have  forced  their  way  in  among  the  strata,  or 
as  extensive  deposits  of  volcanic  ash. 

But  perhaps  the  reader  would  like  to  know 
what  the  inside  of  a  volcanic  crater  is  like  dur- 
ing an  eruption.  Let  us,  then,  take  a  peep 
into  that  fearful  crater  of  Kilauea,  in  the  Sand- 
wich Islands.  For  this  purpose  we  cannot 
do  better  than  follow  Miss  Bird's  admirable 
description  of  her  adventurous  expedition  to 
this  crater :  — 


262  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

"  The  abyss,  which  really  is  at  a  height  of  four 
thousand  feet,  on  the  flank  of  Mauna  Loa,  has  the 
appearance  of  a  pit  on  a  rolling  plain.  But  such  a 
pit !  It  is  quite  nine  miles  in  circumference,  and  at 
its  lowest  area  —  which  not  long  ago  fell  about  three 
hundred  feet,  just  as  ice  on  a  pond  falls  when  the 
water  below  is  withdrawn  —  covers  six  square  miles. 
The  depth  of  the  crater  varies  from  eight  hundred  to 
one  thousand  feet,  according  as  the  molten  sea  below 
is  at  flood  or  ebb.  Signs  of  volcanic  activity  are 
present  more  or  less  throughout  its  whole  depth,  and 
for  some  distance  round  its  margin,  in  the  form  of 
steam-cracks,  jets  of  sulphurous  vapour,  blowing 
cones,  accumulating  deposits  of  acicular  crystals  of 
sulphur,  etc.,  and  the  pit  itself  is  constantly  rent  and 
shaken  by  earthquakes.  Grand  eruptions  occurred 
with  circumstances  of  indescribable  terror  and  dig- 
nity ;  but  Kilauea  does  not  limit  its  activity  to  these 
outbursts,  but  has  exhibited  its  marvellous  phenomena 
through  all  known  time  in  a  lake  or  lakes  on  the 
southern  part  of  the  crater  three  miles  from  this  side. 

"  This  lake  —  the  Hale-mau-mau,  or  '  House  of 
Everlasting  Fire,'  of  the  Hawaiian  mythology,  the 
abode  of  the  dreaded  goddess  Pele  —  is  approach- 
able with  safety,  except  during  an  eruption.  The 
spectacle,  however,  varies  almost  daily  ;  and  at  times 
the  level  of  the  lava  in  the  pit  within  a  pit  is  so  low, 
and  the  suffocating  gases  are  evolved  in  such  enor- 
mous quantities,  that  travellers  are  unable  to  see  any- 


Volcanic  Mountains,  263 

thing.  There  had  been  no  news  from  it  for  a  week ; 
and  as  nothing  was  to  be  seen  but  a  very  faint  bluish 
vapour  hanging  round  its  margin,  the  prospect  was  not 
encouraging.  .  .  .  After  more  than  an  hour  of  very 
difficult  climbing,  we  reached  the  lowest  level  of  the 
crater,  pretty  nearly  a  mile  across,  presenting  from 
above  the  appearance  of  a  sea  at  rest ;  but  on  crossing 
it,  we  found  it  to  be  an  expanse  of  waves  and  convo- 
lutions of  ashy-coloured  lava,  with  huge  cracks  filled 
up  with  black  iridescent  rolls  of  lava  only  a  few 
weeks  old.  Parts  of  it  are  very  rough  and  ridgy, 
jammed  together  like  field-ice,  or  compacted  by  rolls 
of  lava,  which  may  have  swelled  up  from  beneath  ; 
but  the  largest  part  of  the  area  presents  the  appear- 
ance of  huge  coiled  hawsers,  the  ropy  formation  of 
the  lava  rendering  the  illusion  almost  perfect.  These 
are  riven  by  deep  cracks,  which  emit  hot  sulphurous 
vapours.  .  .  . 

"  As  we  ascended,  the  flow  became  hotter  under  our 
feet,  as  well  as  more  porous  and  glistening.  It  was 
so  hot  that  a  shower  of  rain  hissed  as  it  fell  upon  it. 
The  crust  became  increasingly  insecure,  and  neces- 
sitated our  walking  in  single  file  with  the  guide  in 
front,  to  test  the  security  of  the  footing.  I  fell  through 
several  times,  and  always  into  holes  full  of  sulphurous 
steam  so  malignantly  acid  that  my  strong  dogskin 
gloves  were  burned  through  as  I  raised  myself  on 
my  hands. 

"  We  had  followed  the  lava-flow  for  thirty  miles  up  to 


264  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

the  crater's  brink,  and  now  we  had  toiled  over  recent 
lava  for  three  hours,  and  by  all  calculation  were  close 
to  the  pit ;  yet  there  was  no  smoke  or  sign  of  fire, 
and  I  felt  sure  that  the  volcano  had  died  out  for  once 
for  our  special  disappointment.  .  .  . 

"  Suddenly,  just  above,  and  in  front  of  us,  gory  drops 
were  tossed  in  the  air,  and  springing  forwards  we 
stood  on  the  brink  of  Hale-mau-mau,  which  was  about 
thirty-five  feet  below  us.  I  think  we  all  screamed.  I 
know  we  all  wept ;  but  we  were  speechless,  for  a  new 
glory  and  terror  had  been  added  to  the  earth.  It  is 
the  most  unutterable  of  wonderful  things.  The  words 
of  common  speech  are  quite  useless.  It  is  unimagi- 
nable, indescribable  ;  a  sight  to  remember  for  ever ;  a 
sight  which  at  once  took  possession  of  every  faculty 
of  sense  and  soul,  removing  one  altogether  out  of 
the  range  of  ordinary  life.  Here  was  the  real  '  bot- 
tomless pit,'  i  the  fire  which  is  not  quenched/ 
'  the  place  of  Hell,'  '  the  lake  which  burneth  with 
fire  and  brimstone,'  '  the  everlasting  burnings,'  i  the 
fiery  sea  whose  waves  are  never  weary.' x  There  were 
groanings,  rumblings,  and  detonations,  rushings, 
hissings,  splashings,  and  the  crashing  sound  of 
breakers  on  the  coast ;  but  it  was  the  surging  of  fiery 
waves  upon  a  fiery  shore.  But  what  can  I  write  ? 
Such  words  as  jets,  fountains,  waves,  spray,  convey 
some  idea  of  order  and  regularity,  but  here  there  was 

1  Perhaps  these  Scripture  phrases  were  suggested  long  before 
the  Bible  was  written,  by  the  sight  of  some  crater  in  active 
eruption. 


Volcanic  Mountains.  265 

none.  The  inner  lake,  while  we  stood  there,  formed 
a  sort  of  crater  within  itself ;  the  whole  lava  sea  rose 
about  three  feet ;  a  blowing  cone  about  eight  feet  high 
was  formed ;  it  was  never  the  same  two  minutes 
together.  And  what  we  saw  had  no  existence  a 
month  ago,  and  probably  will  be  changed  in  every 
essential  feature  a  month  hence.  .  .  .  The  prominent 
object  was  fire  in  motion  ;  but  the  surface  of  the  double 
lake  was  continually  skimming  over  for  a  second  or 
two  with  a  cooled  crust  of  a  lustrous  grey-white,  like 
frosted  silver,  broken  by  jagged  cracks  of  a  bright 
rose-colour.  The  movement  was  nearly  always  from 
the  sides  to  the  centre  ;  but  the  movement  of  the  cen- 
tre itself  appeared  independent,  and  always  took  a 
southerly  direction.  Before  each  outburst  of  agitation 
there  was  much  hissing  and  throbbing,  internal  roar- 
ing, as  of  imprisoned  gases.  Now  it  seemed  furious, 
demoniacal,  as  if  no  power  on  earth  could  bind  it, 
then  playful  and  sportive,  then  for  a  second  languid, 
but  only  because  it  was  accumulating  fresh  force.  .  .  . 
Sometimes  the  whole  lake  .  .  .  took  the  form  of 
mighty  waves,  and  surging  heavily  against  the  partial 
barrier  with  a  sound  like  the  Pacific  surf,  lashed,  tore, 
covered  it,  and  threw  itself  over  it  in  clots  of  living 
fire.  It  was  all  confusion,  commotion,  forces,  terror, 
glory,  majesty,  mystery,  and  even  beauty.  And  the 
colour,  <  eye  hath  not  seen '  it !  Molten  metal  hath 
not  that  crimson  gleam,  nor  blood  that  living  light."  1 

1  The  Hawaiian  Archipelago. 


266  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

Continued  observation  of  volcanoes,  together 
with  evidence  derived  from  history,  teaches  that 
there  are  different  stages  of  volcanic  action. 
There  are  three  pretty  well-marked  phases. 
First,  the  state  of  permanent  eruption ;  this 
is  not  a  dangerous  state,  because  the  steam  keeps 
escaping  all  the  time  :  the  safety-valve  is  at 
work,  and  all  goes  smoothly.  The  second  state 
is  one  of  moderate  activity,  with  more  or  less 
violent  eruptions  at  brief  intervals ;  this  is 
rather  dangerous,  because  at  times  the  safety- 
valve  does  not  work. 

And  thirdly,  we  have  paroxysms  of  intense 
energy,  alternating  with  long  periods  of  repose 
sometimes  lasting  for  centuries.  These  erup- 
tions are  extremely  violent,  and  cause  wide- 
spread destruction ;  the  safety-valve  has  got 
jammed,  and  so  the  boiler  bursts. 

No  volcano  has  been  so  carefully  watched 
for  a  long  time  as  Vesuvius.  Its  history  illus- 
trates the  phases  we  have  just  mentioned.  The 
first  recorded  eruption  is  that  of  A.  D.  79,  a  very 
severe  one  of  the  violent  type,  by  which  Her- 
culaneum,  Pompeii,  and  Stabioe  were  buried. 
We  have  an  interesting  account  by  the  younger 
Pliny.     Before  this  great  eruption   took  place, 


Volcanic  Mountains.  267 

Vesuvius  had  been  in  a  state  of  repose  for  eight 
hundred  years,  and  if  we  may  judge  from  the 
Greek  and  Roman  writings,  was  not  even  sus- 
pected of  being  a  volcano.  Then  followed  an 
interval  of  rest  until  the  reign  of  Severus,  the 
second  eruption  taking  place  in  the  year  203. 
In  the  year  472,  says  Procopius,  all  Europe 
was  covered  more  or  less  with  volcanic  ashes. 
Other  eruptions  followed  at  intervals,  but  there 
was  complete  repose  for  two  centuries ;  that  is, 
until  the  year  1306.  In  1500  it  was  again 
active,  then  quiet  again  for  one  hundred  and 
thirty  years.  In  1631  there  took  place  another 
terrific  outburst.  After  this  many  eruptions 
followed,  and  they  have  been  frequent  ever 
since.  Vesuvius  is  therefore  now  in  the  second 
stage  of  moderate  activity. 

But  geologists  can  take  a  wider  view  than 
this.  They  can  sum  up  the  history  of  a  vol- 
canic region  of  the  earth ;  and  the  result  is 
somewhat  as  follows :  Volcanoes,  like  living 
creatures,  go  through  different  periods  or 
phases,  corresponding  roughly  to  youth,  middle 
age,  old  age,  and  finally  decay.  The  invasion 
of  any  particular  area  of  the  earth's  surface  by 
the  volcanic  forces  is  heralded  by  underground 


268  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

shocks,  or  earthquakes.  A  little  later  on  cracks 
are  formed,  as  indicated  by  the  rise  of  saline 
and  hot  springs,  and  the  issuing  of  carbonic 
acid  and  other  gases  at  the  surface  of  the  earth. 
As  the  underground  activity  becomes  greater, 
the  temperature  of  the  springs  and  emitted 
gases  increases ;  and  at  last  a  visible  rent  is 
formed,  exposing  highly  heated  and  glowing 
rock  below.  From  the  fissure  thus  formed,  the 
gas  and  vapours  imprisoned  in  the  molten  rocks 
escape  with  such  violence  as  to  disperse  the 
latter  in  the  form  of  pumice  and  volcanic  ash, 
or  to  cause  them  to  pour  out  as  lava-streams. 

The  action  generally  becomes  confined  to  one 
or  more  points  along  the  line  of  action  (which 
is  a  line  of  fissures  and  cracks).  In  this  way  a 
chain  of  volcanoes  is  formed,  which  may  become 
the  seat  of  volcanic  action  for  a  long  time. 

When  the  volcanic  energies  have  become 
somewhat  exhausted,  so  that  they  cannot  raise 
up  the  lava  and  expel  it  from  the  volcanic  cra- 
ter, nor  rend  the  sides  of  the  volcano  and  cause 
minor  cones  to  grow  up  on  their  flanks,  small 
cones  may  be  formed  at  a  lower  level  in  the 
plains  around  the  great  central  chain.  These 
likewise  are  fed  from  fissures. 


Volcanic  Mountains,  269 

Later  on,  as  the  heated  rock  below  cools 
down,  the  fissures  are  sealed  up  by  lava  that  has 
become  solid  ;  and  then  the  volcanoes  fall,  as  it 
were,  into  the  "  sere  and  yellow  leaf,"  and  re- 
main in  a  peaceful,  quiet  state  befitting  their 
old  age. 

After  this  they  begin  to  suffer  from  long  ex- 
posure to  the  atmospheric  influences  of  decay, 
and  rain  and  rivers  wash  them  away  more  or 
less  completely. 

But  still  the  presence  of  heated  rocky  matter 
at  no  great  depth  below  is  proved  by  the  out- 
bursts of  gases  and  vapours,  the  forming  of 
geysers  and  ordinary  hot  springs.  Gradually, 
however,  even  these  signs  of  heat  below  disap- 
pear ;  and  the  cycle  of  volcanic  phases  is  at  an 
end.  Such  a  series  of  changes  may  require  mil- 
lions of  years  ;  but  by  the  study  of  volcanoes  in 
every  stage  of  their  growth  and  decline  it  is 
possible  thus  to  sketch  out  an  outline  of  their 
history. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  in  the  present  state 
of  scientific  knowledge  no  full  and  complete 
explanation  of  volcanic  action  is  possible.  Geol- 
ogists and  others  are  as  yet  but  feeling  their 
way   cautiously   towards  the  light  which,  per- 


270  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

haps  before  long,  will  illumine  the  dark  recesses 
of  this  mysterious  subject.  Many  theories  and 
ideas  have  been  put  forward,  but  in  the  opinion 
of  the  writer  the  most  promising  explanation  is 
one  that  may  be  briefly  expressed  as  follows : 

There  are  below  the  crust  of  the  earth  large 
masses  of  highly  heated  rock  that  are  kept  solid 
by  the  enormous  pressure  of  the  overlying  rocks, 
or  otherwise  they  would  melt,  —  for  it  is  a 
known  fact  that  pressure  tends  to  prevent  the 
melting  of  a  solid  body.  But  when  earth-move- 
ments taking  place  within  the  earth's  crust  — 
such  as  the  upheaving  of  mountain-chains  — 
take  off  some  of  the  weight,  the  balance  between 
internal  heat  and  the  pressure  from  above  is  no 
longer  maintained ;  and  so  these  highly  heated 
rocks  run  off  into  the  liquid  state,  and  finding 
their  way  to  the  surface  through  the  fissures 
mentioned  above,  give  rise  to  volcanic  action. 
There  is  much  to  be  said  in  favour  of  this  view. 
It  rightly  connects  volcanic  action  with  move- 
ments of  upheaval,  with  mountain-chains  and 
lines  of  weakness  in  the  earth's  crust. 

There  is  very  good  reason  to  believe  that  the 
earth  was  once  in  a  highly  heated  state,  and  has 
been  slowly  cooling  down  for  ages.    The  increase 


Volcanic  Mountains.  271 

of  temperature  observed  in  penetrating  mines 
tells  us  that  it  still  retains  below  the  surface  some 
of  its  old  heat.  We  need  not  therefore  be  sur- 
prised at  the  existence  of  heated  masses  of  rock 
down  below,  or  seek,  as  some  have  done,  an  en- 
tirely different  source  for  the  origin  of  volcanic 
heat  than  that  which  remains  from  the  earth's 
once  molten  condition.  It  would  take  too  lonsc 
to  state  the  reasons  on  which  this  idea  of  the 
former  state  of  our  planet  is  based,  and  more- 
over, it  would  bring  us  into  the  region  of  astron- 
omy, with  which  we  are  not  concerned  at 
present. 

In  various  parts  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland 
we  meet  with  old  volcanic  rocks,  —  lavas,  intru- 
sive dykes,  and  sheets  of  basalt,  etc.,  together 
with  vast  deposits  of  volcanic  ash,  which,  sinking 
into  the  old  neighbouring  seas,  became  stratified, 
or  arranged  in  layers  like  the  ordinary  sedi- 
mentary rocks.  In  some  cases  we  see  embedded 
in  these  layers  the  very  "  bombs  "  that  were 
thrown  out  by  the  old  volcanoes  (see  page  253). 
And  besides  these  purely  volcanic  rocks,  we  often 
meet  in  these  areas  with  great  bosses  of  granite, 
which  must  have  been  in  some  way  connected 
with  the  old  volcanoes,  and  probably  were  in 


272  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

many  cases  the  source  from  which  much  of  the 
volcanic  rock  was  derived.  But  more  than  this, 
in  a  few  instances  we  have  the  site  of  the  old 
volcano  itself  marked  out  hy  a  kind  of  pipe,  or 
"neck,"  now  rilled  with  some  of  its  volcanic 
debris  in  the  shape  of  coarse,  rounded  fragments 
(see  page  277). 

During  a  very  ancient  period,  known  to  geol- 
ogists as  the  Silurian  Period,  great  lava-flows 
took  place  from  volcanoes  situated  where  North 
and  South  Wales  and  the  Lake  District  now 
are  ;  and  by  their  eruptions  a  vast  amount  of 
volcanic  ash  was  made,  which  fell  into  the  sea 
and  slowly  sank  to  the  bottom,  so  that  the  shell- 
fish living  there  were  buried  in  the  strata  thus 
formed,  and  may  now  be  seen  in  a  fossilised 
condition. 

Thus  Snowdon,  Cader  Idris,  the  Arans,  Ar- 
enig  Mountain,  and  others,  are  very  largely 
made  up  of  these  ancient  volcanic  materials. 
The  writer  has  picked  up  specimens  of  fossil 
shell-fish  near  the  summit  of  Snowdon  from  a 
bed  of  fine  volcanic  ash  that  forms  the  summit. 
Fig.  2  represents  a  section  through  Snowdon, 
from  which  it  will  be  seen  that  we  have  first  a 
few  sedimentary  strata,  S,  then  a  great  lava- 


Volcanic  Mountains. 


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Volcanic  Mountains.  275 

flow,  L ;  and  that  volcanic  ashes  accumulated 
on  the  top  of  this,  of  which  A  A  are  patches 
still  left.  B  is  an  intrusive  dyke  of  a  basaltic 
rock  that  forced  its  way  through  afterwards. 
Again,  in  the  Lake  District  there  is  a  well- 
known  volcanic  series  of  stratified  rocks  of  the 
same  age,  consisting  mostly  of  lavas  and  ashes, 
the  total  thickness  of  which  is  about  twelve 
thousand  feet  (known  as  the  "Green  Slates  and 
Porphyries"),  so  that  a  large  part  of  some  of 
the  mountains  there  have  also  been  built  up 
by  volcanic  action  ;  but  no  traces  of  the  old 
volcanoes  remain. 

Going  farther  north  we  find  abundant  proof 
that  volcanic  action  on  a  prodigious  scale  took 
place  in  Scotland  during  the  very  ancient  period 
of  the  Old  Red  Sandstone,  with  which  the  name 
of  Hugh  Miller  will  always  be  associated.  In 
Central  Scotland  we  see  lava-flows  and  strata 
formed  of  volcanic  ash,  with  a  thickness  of 
more  than  six  thousand  feet,  fragments  of 
which,  having  escaped  the  destructive  agents 
of  denudation,  now  form  important  chains  of 
hills,  such  as  the  Pentland,  Ochil,  and  Sidlaw 
ranges.  Nor  was  the  volcanic  action  confined 
to  this  region.     In  the  district  of  the  Cheviot 


276  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

Hills  similar  volcanic  rocks  are  to  be  seen. 
But  here  again  the  old  volcanoes  have  long 
since  been  swept  away,  leaving  us  only  por- 
tions of  their  outpourings  buried  in  the  hills. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  present  area 
of  the  Grampian  Hills  was  once  the  site  of  a 
considerable  number  of  volcanoes,  only  at  a 
much  higher  level  than  their  present  surface, 
elevated  though  that  is  to  the  region  of  the 
clouds ;  but  in  this  case  subsequent  denuda- 
tion has  been  so  enormous  that  the  old  moun- 
tain surface  has  been  planed  away  until  all 
we  can  now  see  is  a  series  of  separate  patches 
of  granite,  that  were  once  in  a  fused  and 
highly  heated  state  far  below  the  surface,  and 
formed  part  of  the  subterranean  reservoirs 
from  which  the  volcanoes  derived  their  great 
supplies  of  lava  and  steam.  It  is  indeed  diffi- 
cult to  imagine  the  enormous  amount  of  denu- 
dation which  has  taken  place  in  the  Highlands 
of  Scotland,  and  to  realise  that  the  magnificent 
range  of  the  Cairngorms,  for  instance,  has 
been  for  ages  worn  down  until  now  they  are  but 
a  remnant  of  what  they  once  were. 

In  this  region  we  see  the  once  boiling  and 
seething  masses  of  rock  which  fed  the  old  vol- 


Volcanic  Mountains.  277 

canoes,  now  no  longer  endowed  with  life-like 
power  by  the  force  of  steam,  but  lying 
in  death-like  cold  and  stiffness,  with  their 
beautiful  crystals  of  mica  and  felspar  spar- 
kling in  the  sun.  The  volcanic  fires  have  died 
out ;  but  the  traces  of  their  work  are  unmis- 
takable, among  which  we  must  not  forget  to 
reckon  the  beautiful  minerals  made  by  the 
action  of  heated  water  upon  the  surrounding 
rocks. 

The  beautiful  cairngorm  stones  are  still 
sometimes  found  on  the  mountain  from  which 
they  take  their  name,  and  in  all  volcanic  re- 
gions minerals  are  plentiful. 

The  well-known  hill  called  Arthur's  Seat, 
close  to  Edinburgh,  marks  the  site  of  an  old 
volcano.  The  "  neck,"  or  central  opening,  may 
be  seen  at  the  top  of  the  hill,  but  choked  up 
with  volcanic  rocks  and  debris.  The  crater  has 
long  since  disappeared,  but  Salisbury  Craigs 
and  St.  Leonard's  Craigs  are  formed  of  a  great 
sheet  of  basalt  that  intruded  itself  among  the 
stratified  rocks  that  had  been  formed  there, 
and  so  belong  really  to  a  great  intrusive  dyke. 
In  the  Castle  Rock  we  see  the  same  basalt 
again. 


278  The  Story  of  the  Hilts. 

During  a  much  later  age,  known  as  the  Mio- 
cene Period  (see  chap,  x.,  p.  324),  enormous  out- 
pourings of  lava  took  place  in  Western  Europe, 
covering  hundreds  of  square  miles.  Of  these 
the  most  important  is  that  which  occupies  a 
large  part  of  the  northeast  of  Ireland,  and  ex- 
tends in  patches  through  the  Inner  Hebrides  and 
the  Faroe  Islands  into  Iceland.  These  eruptive 
rocks,  unlike  those  above  referred  to,  must  have 
poured  out  at  the  surface,  and  have  taken  the 
form  of  successive  sheets,  such  as  we  now  see  in 
the  terraced  plateaux  of  Skye,  Eigg,  Canna, 
Muck,  Mull,  and  Morven.  These,  then,  are 
patches  of  what  once  formed  a  great  plain  of 
basalt.  During  later  times  this  volcanic  platform 
has  been  so  greatly  cut  up  by  the  agents  of 
denudation  that  it  has  been  reduced  to  mere 
scattered  fragments  ;  thousands  of  feet  of  basalt 
have  been  worn  away  from  it ;  deep  and  wide 
valleys  have  been  carved  out  of  it ;  and  in  many 
cases  it  has  been  almost  entirely  stripped  off 
from  the  wide  areas  it  once  covered.  Where, 
as  in  the  Isle  of  Eigg,  the  lava  has  been 
piled  up  in  successive  sheets,  with  some  layers 
of  volcanic  ash  between,  the  latter  has  been 
worn  away  rather  faster  than  the  hard  layers 


Volcanic  Mountains.  279 

of  basalt,  and  each  lava-flow  is  clearly  marked 
by  a  terrace.  These  volcanic  eruptions  have 
thus  had  a  great  influence  in  moulding  the 
scenery  of  this  region.  In  Ireland  the  old 
basalts  are  well  seen  at  the  Giant's  Causeway, 
and  on  the  Scottish  coast  we  see  them  again  at 
the  well-known  Fingal's  cave  at  Staffa.  This 
island,  like  the  others,  is  just  a  patch  of  the  old 
lava-streams. 

Its  curious  six-sided  columns  illustrate  a  fact 
with  regard  to  the  subsequent  cooling  of  lava- 
flows.  Some  internal  forces,  analogous  to  that 
which  regulates  the  shapes  of  crystals,  have 
caused  it  to  crack  along  three  sets  of  lines,  so 
placed  with  regard  to  each  other  as  to  produce 
six-sided  columns. 

In  Ireland  the  basalts  attain  a  thickness  of 
nine  hundred  feet ;  in  Mull  they  are  about 
three  thousand  feet  thick.  It  has  been  clearly 
proved  that  Mull  is  the  site  of  one  of  the  old 
volcanoes  of  this  period,  but  very  few  others 
have  as  yet  been  detected.  Perhaps  the  erup- 
tions took  place  mainly  from  large  fissures, 
instead  of  from  volcanic  cones,  for  it  is  known 
that  the  ground  below  the  lava-sheets  has 
been  rent  by  earthquakes  into  innumerable  fis- 


280  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

sures,  into  which  the  basalt  was  injected  from 
below. 

In  this  way  a  vast  number  of  "dykes"  were 
formed.  These  have  been  traced  by  hundreds 
eastwards  from  this  region  across  Scotland,  and 
even  the  north  of  England.  In  this  case  the 
molten  rock  was  struggling  to  get  through  the 
overlying  rocks  and  escape  at  the  surface; 
but  apparently  it  did  not  succeed  in  so  doing, 
for  we  do  not  find  lava-flows  to  the  east  and 
south.  These  basalt  dykes  are  found  as  far 
south  as  Yorkshire,  and  can  be  traced  over 
an  area  of  one  hundred  thousand  square 
miles. 

It  is  thus  evident  that  in  the  Miocene  Pe- 
riod a  great  and  extensive  mass  of  molten  basalt 
was  underlying  a  large  part  of  the  British 
Isles,  and  probably  the  weight  of  the  thick 
rocks  overlying  it  was  sufficient  to  prevent  its 
escape  to  the  surface.  If  it  had  succeeded  in 
so  escaping  and  overflowing,  how  different  the 
scenery  of  much  of  Scotland  and  Northern 
England   might   have  been! 


CHAPTER  IX. 

MOUNTAIN    ARCHITECTURE. 

The  splendour  falls  on  castle  walls 

And  snowy  summits  old  in  story; 
The  long  light  shakes  across  the  lakes, 

And  the  wild  cataract  leaps  in  glory. 
Blow,  bugle,  blow,  set  the  wild  echoes  flying; 
'  Blow,  bugle  ;  answer,  echoes,  dying,  dying,  dying. 

Tennyson. 

The  dying  splendours  of  the  sun  slowly 
sinking  and  entering  the  "  gates  of  the  West " 
may  well  serve  as  a  fitting  emblem  of  the 
mountains  in  their  beautiful  old  age,  awaiting 
in  silent  and  calm  dignity  the  time  when 
they  also  must  be  brought  low,  and  sink  in 
the  waters  of  the  ocean,  as  the  sun  appears 
daily  to  do.  Yes,  they  too  have  their  day. 
They  too  had  their  rising,  when  mighty  forces 
brought  them  up  out  of  their  watery  bed. 
Many  of  them  have  passed  their  hey-day  of 
youth,  and  their  midday  ;  while  others,  far  ad- 
vanced in  old  age,  are  nearing  the  end  of  their 
course. 


282  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

But  as  the  sun  rises  once  more  over  eastern 
seas  to  begin  another  day,  so  will  the  sub- 
stance of  the  mountains  be  again  heaved  up 
after  a  long,  long  rest  under  the  sea,  and 
here  and  there  will  rise  up  from  the  plains 
to  form  the  lofty  mountain-ranges  of  a  distant 
future. 

Everywhere  we  read  the  same  story,  the 
same  circle  of  changes.  The  Alpine  peak  that 
proudly  rears  its  head  to  the  clouds  must  surely 
be  brought  low,  and  finally  come  back  to  the 
same  ocean 'from  which  those  clouds  arose.  It 
is  in  this  way  that  the  balance  between  land 
and  water  is  preserved.  In  passing  through 
such  a  great  circle  of  changes,  the  mountains 
assume  various  forms  and  shapes  which  are 
determined  by  :  — 

1.  Their  different  ages  and  states  of  decay. 

2.  The  different  kinds  of  rocks  of  which  they  are 
composed,  and  especially  by  their  "  joints,"  or  natural 
divisions. 

3.  The  different  positions  into  which  these  rocky 
layers  have  been  squeezed,  pushed,  and  crumpled  by 
those  stupendous  forces  of  upheaval  of  which  we 
spoke  in  chapter  vi. 

Let    us   therefore  glance    at   some   of   these 


Mountain  Architecture.  283 

external  forms,  and  then  look  at  the  internal 
structure  of  mountains. 

In  so  doing  we  shall  find  that  we  have  yet 
a  good  deal  more  to  learn  about  mountains 
and  how  they  were  made ;  and  also  we 
shall  then  be  in  a  better  position  to  realise 
not  only  how  very  much  denudation  they 
have  suffered,  but  also  how  greatly  they  have 
been  disturbed  since  their  rocks  were  first 
made. 

Every  one  who  knows  mountains  must  have 
observed  how  some  are  smooth  and  rounded, 
others  sharp  and  jagged,  with  peaks  and  pin- 
nacles standing  out  clearly  against  the  sky; 
some  square  and  massive,  with  steep  walls 
forming  precipices ;  others  again  spread  out 
widely  at  their  base,  but  the  sloping  sides 
end  in  a  sharp  point  at  the  top,  giving  to  the 
mountain  the  appearance  of  a  cone.  Their 
diversities  of  shape  are  so  endless  that  we  can- 
not attempt   to  describe  them  all. 

First,  with  regard  to  the  general  features  of 
mountains.  Looked  at  broadly,  a  mountain- 
range  is  not  a  mere  line  of  hills  or  mountains 
rising  straight  up  from  a  plain  on  each  side, 
such  as  school-boys  often  draw  in  their  maps ; 


284  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

very  far  from  it.  Take  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
for  instance.  "  It  has  been  truly  said  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  that  the  word  '  range '  does 
not  express  it  at  all.  It  is  a  whole  country 
populous  with  mountains.  It  is  as  if  an  ocean 
of  molten  granite  had  been  caught  by  instant 
petrifaction  when  its  billows  were  rolling 
heaven   high."  1 

It  has  often  been  observed  by  mountain 
climbers  that  when  they  get  to  the  top  of  a 
high  mountain,  and  take  a  bird's-eye  view  of 
the  country,  all  the  mountain-tops  seem  to 
reach  to  about  the  same  height,  so  that  a  line 
joining  them  would  be  almost  level.  For  this 
reason,  perhaps,  writers  so  often  compare  them 
to  the  waves  of  an  ocean.  This  feature  is 
very  conspicuous  in  the  case  of  the  Scotch 
Highlands. 

Sir  A.  Geikie  has  well  described  what  he 
saw  from  the  top  of  Ben  Nevis  :  — 

"  Much  has  been  said  and  written  about  the  wild, 
tumbled  sea  of  the  Highland  Hills.  But  as  he  sits  on 
his  high  perch,  does  it  not  strike  the  observer  that 
there  is  after  all  a  wonderful  orderliness,  and  even 

1  "  The  Crest  of  the  Continent,"  by  Ernest  Ingersoll,  Chicago, 
1885. 


Mountain  Architecture.  285 

monotony,  in  the  waves  of  that  wide  sea  ?  And  when 
he  has  followed  their  undulations  from  north  to  south, 
all  round  the  horizon,  does  it  not  seem  to  him  that 
these  mountain-tops  and  ridges  tend  somehow  to  rise 
to  a  general  level ;  that,  in  short,  there  is  not  only  on 
the  great  scale  a  marked  similarity  of  contour  about 
them,  but  a  still  more  definite  uniformity  of  average 
height  ?  To  many  who  have  contented  themselves 
with  the  bottom  of  the  glen,  and  have  looked  with  awe 
at  the  array  of  peaks  and  crags  overhead,  this  state- 
ment will  doubtless  appear  incredible.  But  let  any 
one  get  fairly  up  to  the  summits  and  look  along  them, 
and  he  will  not  fail  to  see  that  the  statement  is  never- 
theless true.  From  the  top  of  Ben  Nevis  this  feature 
is  impressively  seen.  Along  the  sky-line  the  wide  sweep 
of  summits  undulates  up  to  a  common  level,  varied 
here  by  a  cone  and  there  by  the  line  of  some  strath  or 
glen,  but  yet  wonderfully  persistent  round  the  whole 
panorama.  If,  as  sometimes  happens  in  these  airy 
regions,  a  bank  of  cloud  with  a  level  under-surface 
should  descend  upon  the  mountains,  it  will  be  seen  to 
touch  summit  after  summit,  the  long  line  of  the  cloud 
defining,  like  a  great  parallel  ruler,  the  long  level  line 
of  the  ridges  below.  I  have  seen  this  feature  brought 
out  with  picturesque  vividness  over  the  mountains  of 
Knoydart  and  Glen  Garry.  Wreaths  of  filmy  mist 
had  been  hovering  in  the  upper  air  during  the  forenoon. 
Towards  evening,  under  the  influence  of  a  cool  breeze 
from  the  north,  they  gathered  together  into  one  long 


286  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

band  that  stretched  for  several  miles  straight  as  the 
sky-line  of  the  distant  sea,  touching  merely  the  higher 
summits  and  giving  a  horizon  by  which  the  general 
uniformity  of  level  among  the  hills  could  be  signally 
tested.  Once  or  twice  in  a  season  one  may  be  fortu- 
nate enough  to  get  on  the  mountains  above  such  a 
stratum  of  mist,  which  then  seems  to  fill  up  the  ir- 
regularities of  the  general  platform  of  hill-tops,  and  to 
stretch  out  as  a  white  phantom  sea,  from  which  the 
highest  eminences  rise  up  as  little  islets  into  the  clear 
air  of  the  morning.  .  .  .  Still  more  striking  is  the  ex- 
ample furnished  by  the  great  central  mass  of  the 
Grampians,  comprising  the  Cairngorm  Mountains  and 
the  great  corries  and  precipices  round  the  head  of 
the  Dee.  This  tract  of  rugged  ground,  when  looked 
at  from  a  distance,  is  found  to  present  the  character 
of  a  high,  undulating  plateau."  l 

This  long  level  line  of  the  Highland  mountain- 
tops  may  be  seen  very  well  from  the  lower 
country  outside  ;  for  example,  from  the  isles  of 
Skye  and  Eigg,  where  one  may  see  the  pano- 
rama between  the  heights  of  Applecross  and 
the  Point  of  Ardnamurchan  showing  very 
clearly  the  traces  of  the  old  table-land. 

How  are  we  to  explain  this  curious  fact,  so 
opposed  to  our  first  impressions  of  a  mountain 

1  Scenery  of  Scotland,  page  130,  new  edition. 


Mountain  Architecture.  287 

region  ?  It  is  quite  clear  that  the  old  plateau 
thus  marked  out  cannot  be  caused  by  the  ar- 
rangement or  position  of  the  rocks  of  which 
the  Highlands  are  composed.  If  these  rocks 
were  found  to  be  lying  pretty  evenly  in  flat 
layers,  or  strata,  undisturbed  by  great  earth- 
movements,  we  could  readily  understand  that 
they  would  form  a  plateau.  But  the  reverse  is 
the  case :  the  rocks  are  everywhere  thrown 
into  folds,  and  frequently  greatly  displaced  by 
"  faults ; '  yet  these  important  geological  fea- 
tures have  little  or  no  connection  with  the 
external  aspect  of  the  country.  It  is  there- 
fore useless  to  look  to  internal  structure  for  an 
explanation.  We  must  look  outside,  and  con- 
sider what  has  been  for  ages  and  ages  taking 
place   here. 

As  already  pointed  out,  an  enormous  amount 
of  solid  rock  has  been  removed  from  this  resrion 
—  thousands  and  thousands  of  feet.  It  was  long 
ago  planed  down  by  the  action  of  water,  so  that  a 
table-land  once  existed  of  which  the  tops  of  the 
present  mountains  are  isolated  fragments.  No 
other  conclusion  is  possible.  To  the  geologist 
every  hill  and  valley  throughout  the  whole 
length  and  breadth  of    the   Highlands    bears 


288  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

striking  testimony  to  this  enormous  erosion. 
The  explanation  we  are  seeking  may  therefore 
be  summed  up  in  one  word,  "  denudation."  The 
valleys  that  now  intersect  the  table-land  have 
been  carved  out  of  it.  If  we  could  in  imagina- 
tion put  back  again  onto  the  present  surface 
what  has  been  removed,  we  should  have  a 
mental  picture  of  the  Highlands  as  a  wide, 
undulating  table-land ;  and  this  rolling  plain 
would  suggest  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  The  long 
flat  surfaces  of  the  Highland  ridges,  cut  across 
the  edges  of  inclined  or  even  upright  strata, 
are  the  fragments  of  a  former  base-line  of 
erosion ;  that  is,  they  represent  the  general 
submarine  level  to  which  the  Highlands  were 
reduced  after  exposure  to  the  action  of  "  rain 
and  rivers,"  and  finally  of  the  sea.  As  the  sea 
gradually  spread  over  it,  it  planed  down  every- 
thing that  had  not  been  previously  worn  away, 
and  so  reduced  the  whole  surface  to  one  general 
level  like  the  sea-bed  of  the  present  day.  But 
it  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  that  the  whole 
region  was  under  water  at  the  same  time,  and 
it  is  probable  that  there  were  separate  inland 
seas  or  lakes.  In  these  the  rocks  of  the  Old 
Eed  Sandstone  were  formed ;  and  they  in  their 


Mountain  Architecture.  289 

turn  have  suffered  so  much  denudation  that  only 
patches  and  long  strips  of  them  are  left  on  the 
borders  of  the  Highlands. 

Before  we  speak  of  individual  mountains  and 
their  shapes,  it  is  important  to  bear  in  mind 
another  fact  about  mountain-chains ;  namely, 
that  they  are  very  low  in  proportion  to  their 
breadth  and  length.  The  great  heights  reached 
by  some  mountains  produce  such  a  powerful  im- 
pression on  our  senses  that  we  hardly  realise 
how  very  insignificant  they  really  are.  It  is 
only  by  drawing  them  on  a  true  scale  that  we 
can  realise  this.  The  surface  of  the  earth  is  so 
vast  that  even  the  highest  mountains  are  in  pro- 
portion but  as  the  little  roughnesses  on  the  skin 
of  an  orange.  Fig.  2  (see  chap,  vii.,  p.  236)  re- 
presents a  section  through  the  Highlands,  drawn 
on  the  same  scale  for  height  as  for  length. 

What  has  been  said  about  the  Highland  pla- 
teau applies  equally  well  to  many  other  moun- 
tain-ranges. Mr.  Ruskin  observed  something 
rather  similar  in  the  Alps.     He  says, — 

"  The  longer  I  stayed  in  the  Alps,  and  the  more 
closely  I  examined  them,  the  more  I  was  struck  by 
the  one  broad  fact  of  there  being  a  vast  Alpine  plateau, 

19 


290  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

or  mass  of  elevated  land,  upon  which  nearly  all  the 
highest  peaks  stood  like  children  set  upon  a  table, 
removed,  in  most  cases,  far  back  from  the  edge  of  the 
plateau,  as  if  for  fear  of  their  falling  ;  .  .  .  and  for  the 
most  part  the  great  peaks  are  not  allowed  to  come  to 
the  edge  of  it,  but  remain  like  the  keeps  of  castles, 
withdrawn,  surrounded  league  beyond  league  by  com- 
paratively level  fields  of  mountains,  over  which  the 
lapping  sheets  of  glaciers  writhe  and  flow,  foaming 
about  the  feet  of  the  dark  central  crests  like  the  surf 
of  an  enormous  sea-breaker  hurled  over  a  rounded 
rock  and  islanding  some  fragment  of  it  in  the  midst. 
And  the  result  of  this  arrangement  is  a  kind  of 
division  of  the  whole  of  Switzerland  into  an  upper 
and  a  lower  mountain  world,  —  the  lower  world  con- 
sisting of  rich  valleys,  bordered  by  steep  but  easily 
accessible,  wooded  banks  of  mountain,  more  or  less 
divided  by  ravines,  through  which  glimpses  are 
caught  of  the  higher  Alps  ;  the  upper  world,  reached 
after  the  first  steep  banks  of  three  thousand  or  four 
thousand  feet  in  height  have  been  surmounted,  con- 
sisting of  comparatively  level  but  most  desolate  tracts 
of  moor  and  rock,  half  covered  by  glacier,  and  stretch- 
ing to  the  feet  of  the  true  pinnacles  of  the  chain.', 

He  then  points  out  the  wisdom  of  this  ar- 
rangement, and  shows  how  it  protects  the 
inhabitants  from  falling  blocks  and  avalanches ; 
and  moreover,  the  masses  of  snow,  if  cast  down 


Mountain  Architecture.  291 

at  once  into  the  warmer  air,  would  melt  too 
fast  and  cause  furious  inundations. 

All  the  various  kinds  of  rocks  are  differently 
affected  by  the  atmospheric  influences  of  decay, 
and  so  present  different  external  appearances  and 
shapes,  so  that  after  a  little  experience  the  geol- 
ogist can  recognize  the  presence  of  certain  rocks 
by  the  kind  of  scenery  they  produce ;  and  this 
knowledge  is  often  of  great  use  in  helping  him 
to  unravel  the  geological  structure  of  a  difficult 
region.  Thus  granite,  crystalline  schists,  slates, 
sandstones,  and  limestones,  all  "  weather '  in 
their  own  ways,  and  moreover  split  up  differ- 
ently, because  their  joints  and  other  natural 
lines  of  division  run  in  different  ways. 

Thus  granite  is  jointed  very  regularly,  some 
of  the  joints  running  straight  down  and  others 
running  horizontally,  so  that  the  rain  and  at- 
mosphere seize  on  these  lines  and  widen  them 
very  considerably ;  and  thus  the  granite  is  weath- 
ered out  either  in  tall  upright  columns,  like 
those  seen  at  Land's  End,  or  else  into  great 
square-shaped  blocks  with  their  corners  rounded 
off,  presenting  the  appearance  of  a  number  of 
knapsacks  lying  one  over  the  other.  In  this 
way  we  can  account  for  the  well-known  "  Tors  ' 


292  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

of  Devonshire,  and  the  "  Rocking  Stones." 
Granite  weathers  rapidly  along  its  joints,  and 
its  surfaces  crumble  away  more  rapidly  than 
might  be  expected,  considering  how  hard  a  rock 
it  is  ;  but  the  felspar  which  is  its  chief  min- 
eral constituent  is  readily  decomposed  by  rain 
water,  which  acts  chemically  upon  it.  The 
deposits  of  China  clay  in  Devonshire  are  the 
result  of  the  decomposition  and  washing  away 
of  the  granite  of  Dartmoor. 

Granite  mountains  are  generally  rounded  and 
"  bossy,"  breaking  now  and  then  into  cliffs,  the 
faces  of  which  are  riven  by  huge  joints,  and 
present  a  very  different  appearance  from  those 
composed  of  crystalline  schists  with  their  sharp 
crests  and  peaks.  Ben  Nevis  and  the  Cairn- 
gorms are  partly  composed  of  granite. 

Gneiss  is  a  rock  composed  of  the  same  miner- 
als as  granite ;  namely,  mica,  quartz,  and 
felspar.  And  yet  mountains  composed  of  this 
rock  have  quite  a  different  aspect,  and  some- 
times, as  in  the  Alps,  produce  very  sharp  and 
jagged  pinnacles.  The  reason  of  this  is  that 
gneiss  splits  in  a  different  way  from  granite,  be- 
cause its  minerals  are  arranged  in  layers,  and  so 
it  is  more  like  a  crystalline  schist. 


Mountain  Architecture.  293 

Mica-schist  is  another  rock  very  abundant  in 
mountain  regions.  This  rock  is  composed  of 
quartz  and  mica  arranged  in  wavy  layers.  The 
mica,  which  is  very  conspicuous,  lies  in  thin 
plates,  sometimes  so  dovetailed  into  each  other 
as  to  form  long  continuous  layers  separating  it 
from  those  of  the  quartz ;  and  it  readily  splits 
along  the  layers  of  mica.  This  mineral  is  easily 
recognised  by  its  bright,  shiny  surface.  There 
are,  however,  two  varieties,  —  one  of  a  light 
colour  and  the  other  black. 

Mica-schist  and  gneiss  are  often  found  in 
the  same  region,  and  are  the  materials  of 
which  most  of  the  highest  peaks  in  Europe 
are  composed.  We  find  them  abounding  in 
the  district  of  Mont  Blanc ;  and  all  the 
monarch's  attendant  aiguilles,  with  the  splin- 
tered ridges  enclosing  the  great  snowfields 
in  the  heart  of  the  chain,  consist  mostly  of 
these  two  rocks.  The  Matterhorn,  Weisshorn, 
Monte  Viso,  the  Grand  Paradis,  the  Aiguille 
Verte  and  Aiguille  du  Dru  are  examples  of 
the  wonderful  forms  produced  by  the  break- 
ing up  and  decay  of  these  two  rocks. 

The  different  varieties  of  slate  split  in  a 
very    marked    way.      Slates    are    often    asso- 


294  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

ciated  with  the  schists,  and  exert  their  influ- 
ence in  modifying  the  scenery. 

Limestone  ranges,  though  less  striking  in 
the  outlines  of  their  crests  than  those  com- 
posed of  slates  and  crystalline  schists,  and 
not  reaching  to  such  heights,  are  nevertheless 
not  at  all  inferior  in  the  grandeur  of  their 
cliffs,  which  frequently  extend  for  miles  along 
the  side  of  a  valley  in  vast  terraces,  whose 
precipitous  walls  are  often  absolutely  inac- 
cessible. The  beauty  of  limestone  mountains 
is  often  enhanced  by  the  rich  pastures  and 
forests  which  clothe  their  lower  slopes.  The 
dolomitic  limestone  of  the  Italian  Tyrol,  being 
gashed  by  enormous  vertical  joints  and  at 
the  same  time  having  been  formed  in  rather 
thin  layers  which  break  up  into  small  blocks, 
produces  some  very  striking  scenery.  But  wild 
as  these  mountainous  ridges  may  be,  their 
forms  can  never  be  confounded  with  those 
of  the  crystalline  schists ;  for  however  sharp 
their  pinnacles  may  appear  at  first  sight, 
careful  examination  will  always  show  that 
their  outline  is  that  of  ruined  masonry, 
suggesting  crumbling  battlements  and  totter- 
ing  turrets,    and    not    the    curving,    flame-like 


Mountain  Architecture.  295 

crests   and  splintered   peaks  of  the  crystalline 
schists.1 

It  has  already  been  explained  that  all  sedi- 
mentary rocks  have  been  formed  under  water 
in  layers  or  strata,  and  it  must  be  obvious 
that  the  stratification  of  such  rocks  has  an 
important  influence  on  scenery ;  and  very  much 
depends  on  whether  the  strata  have  been  left 
undisturbed,  with  perhaps  just  a  slight  slope, 
or  whether  they  have  been  folded  and  crum- 
pled ;  for  the  position  of  the  strata,  or  "  bed- 
ding," as  it  is  called,  —  whether  flat,  inclined, 
vertical,  or  contorted,  —  largely  determines  the 
nature  of  the  surface.  Undoubtedly  the  most 
characteristic  scenery  formed  by  stratified  rocks 
is  to  be  seen  in  those  places  where  the  "  bed- 
ding' is  horizontal,  or  nearly  so,  and  the 
strata  are  massive.  A  mountain  constructed  of 
such  materials  appears  as  a  colossal  pyramid, 
the  level  lines  of  stratification  looking  like 
great  courses  of  masonry.  The  joints  that  cut 
across  the  strata  allow  it  to  be  cleft  into  great 
blocks  and  deep  chasms ;  so  that,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  dolomitic  limestone  above  mentioned,  we 
find  a  resemblance  to  ruined  buildings. 

1  Bonney. 


296  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

We  cannot  find  a  better  example  of  this  in 
our  own  country  than  the  mountains  of  sand- 
stone and  conglomerate  (of  the  Cambrian  age) 
that  here  and  there  lie  on  the  great  platform 
of  old  gneiss  in  the  west  of  Sutherland  and 
Ross.     Sir  A.  Geikie  says, — 

"  The  bleak,  bare  gneiss,  with  its  monotonous  un- 
dulations, tarns,  and  bogs,  is  surmounted  by  groups  of 
cones,  which  for  individuality  of  form  and  indepen- 
dence of  position  better  deserve  to  be  called  moun- 
tains than  most  of  the  eminences  to  which  that  name 
is  given  in  Scotland.  These  huge  pyramids,  rising  to 
heights  of  between  two  thousand  and  four  thousand 
feet,  consist  of  dark  red  strata,  so  little  inclined  that 
their  edges  can  be  traced  by  the  eye  in  long,  level 
bars  on  the  steeper  hillsides  and  precipices,  like  lines 
of  masonry.  Here  and  there  the  hand  of  time  has 
rent  them  into  deep  rifts,  from  which  long  fc  screes ' 
(slopes  of  loose  stones)  descend  into  the  plains  below, 
as  stones  are  detached  from  the  shivered  walls  of  an 
ancient  battlement.  Down  their  sides,  which  have  in 
places  the  steepness  of  a  bastion,  vegetation  finds  but 
scanty  room  along  the  projecting  ledges  of  the  sand- 
stone beds,  where  the  heath  and  grass  and  wild- 
flowers  cluster  over  the  rock  in  straggling  lines  and 
tufts  of  green ;  and  yet,  though  nearly  as  bare  as  the 
gneiss  below  them,  these  lofty  mountains  are  far  from 
presenting  the  same  aspect  of  barrenness.     The  pre- 


Mountain  Architecture.  297 

vailing  colour  of  their  component  strata  gives  them  a 
warm  red  hue,  which  even  at  noon  contrasts  strongly 
with  the  grey  of  the  platform  of  older  rock.  .  .  . 
These  huge  isolated  cones  are  among  the  most  strik- 
ing memorials  of  denudation  anywhere  to  be  seen  in 
the  British  Isles.  Quinag,  Canisp,  Suilven,  Coulmore, 
and  the  hills  of  Coygoch,  Dundonald,  Loch  Maree, 
and  Torridon  are  merely  detached  patches  of  a  forma- 
tion not  less  than  seven  thousand  or  eight  thousand 
feet  thick,  which  once  spread  over  the  northwest  of 
Scotland.  The  spaces  between  them  were  once  occu- 
pied by  the  same  dull  red  sandstone  ;  the  horizontal 
stratification  of  one  hill,  indeed,  is  plainly  continuous 
with  that  of  the  others,  though  deep  and  wide  valleys, 
or  miles  of  low  moorland,  may  now  lie  between. 
While  the  valleys  have  been  worn  down  through  the 
sandstone,  these  strange  pyramidal  mountains  that 
form  so  singular  a  feature  in  the  landscapes  of  the 
northwest  highlands  have  been  left  standing,  like 
lonely  sea-stacks,  as  monuments  of  long  ages  of 
waste."  r 

Again,  the  vast  table-lands  of  the  Colorado 
region  illustrate  on  a  truly  magnificent  scale, 
to  which  there  is  no  parallel  in  the  Old 
World,  the  effects  of  atmospheric  erosion  on 
undisturbed  and  nearly  level  strata.     Here  we 

*  Scenery  of  Scotland,  page  201,  new  edition. 


298  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

find  valleys  and  river  gorges  deeper  and  longer 
than  any  others  in  the  world  ;  great  winding 
lines  of  escarpment,  like  ranges  of  sea  cliffs  ; 
terraced  slopes  rising  at  various  levels  ;  huge 
buttresses  and  solitary  monuments,  standing 
like  islands  out  of  the  plains ;  and  lastly, 
great  mountain  masses  carved  out  into  the 
most  striking  and  picturesque  shapes,  yet  with 
their  lines  of    "  bedding '    clearly  marked  out. 

On  the  other  hand,  where,  as  is  almost  al- 
ways the  case  in  mountain-ranges,  the  stratified 
rocks  have  been  folded,  crumpled,  twisted,  and 
fractured  by  great  "faults,"  we  find  a  very 
different  result.  In  these  cases  the  rocks  have 
generally  been  very  much  altered  by  the  action 
of  heat.  For  here  we  find  crvstalline  schists, 
gneiss,  granite,  and  other  rocks  in  the  forma- 
tion of  which  heat  has  played  an  important 
part ;  and  very  often  the  igneous  rocks  have 
forced  their  way  through  those  of  sedimentary 
origin  and  altered  them  into  what  are  called 
metamorphic  rocks  (see  chapter  v.,  page  156). 
Thus  they  have  lost  much  of  their  original 
character  and  structure. 

The  repeated  uplifts  and  subsidences  of  the 
earth's   crust,   by  which  the  continents  of  the 


Mountain  Architecture.  299 

world  have  been  raised  up  out  of  the  sea  to 
form  dry  land,  have,  broadly  speaking,  thrown 
the  rocky  strata  into  a  series  of  wave-like 
undulations.  In  some  extensive  regions  these 
undulations  are  so  broad  and  low  that  the 
curvature  is  quite  imperceptible,  and  the 
strata  appear  to  lie  in  horizontal  layers,  or 
to  slope  very  slightly  in  a  certain  direction. 
This  is,  in  a  general  way,  the  position  of 
the  strata  of  which  plains  and  plateaux  are 
composed. 

But  in  the  longer  and  comparatively  nar- 
row mountain  regions  that  traverse  each  of  the 
great  continents,  forming,  as  it  were,  backbones 
to  them,  the  undulations  are  very  much  more 
frequent,  narrower,  and  higher.  Sometimes  the 
rocks  have  been  thrown  into  huge  open  waves, 
or  'the  folds  are  closely  crowded  together,  so 
that  the  strata  stand  on  their  ends,  or  are  even 
completely  overturned,  and  thus  their  proper 
order  of  succession  is  reversed,  and  the  older 
ones  actually  lie  on  the  top  of  the  newer 
ones. 

As  we  approach  a  great  mountain-chain  we 
observe  many  minor  ridges  and  smaller  chains 
running   roughly  parallel   with    it,    and,   as  it 


300  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

were,  foreshadowing  the  great  folds  met  with 
in  the  centre  of  the  chain  and  among  its 
highest  peaks.  These  small  folds  become 
sharper  and  closer  the  nearer  we  get  to  the 
main  chain,  and  evidently  were  formed  by 
the  same  movements  that  uplifted  the  higher 
ranges  beyond ;  but  the  force  was  not  so 
great.  Thus  we  find  the  great  Alpine  chain 
flanked  to  the  north  by  the  smaller  ranges  of 
the  Jura  Mountains ;  and  on  the  south  side  of 
the  Himalayas  we  find  similar  smaller  ranges 
of  hills. 

Ruskin  thus  describes  his  impression  of  the 
Jura  ranges,  which  he  very  aptly  compares 
with  a  swell  on  the  sea  far  away  from  a  storm, 
the  storm  being  represented  by  the  wild  sea  of 
Alpine  mountains  :  — 

"  Among  the  hours  of  his  life  to  which  the  writer 
looks  back  with  peculiar  gratitude,  as  having  been 
marked  with  more  than  ordinary  fulness  of  joy  or 
clearness  of  teaching,  is  one  passed,  now  some  years 
ago,  near  time  of  sunset,  among  the  masses  of  pine 
forest  which  skirt  the  course  of  the  Ain,  above  the 
village  of  Champagnole,  in  the  Jura.  It  is  a  spot 
which  has  all  the  solemnity,  with  none  of  the  savage- 
ness,  of  the  Alps ;  where  there  is  a  sense  of  a  great 
power  beginning  to  be  manifested  in  the  earth,  and  of 


Mountain  Architecture.  301 

a  deep  and  majestic  concord  in  the  rise  of  the  long 
low  lines  of  piny  hills,  —  the  first  utterance  of  those 
mighty  mountain  symphonies,  soon  to  be  more  loudly 
lifted  and  wildly  broken  along  the  battlements  of  the 
Alps.  But  their  strength  is  as  yet  restrained  ;  and 
the  far-reaching  ridges  of  pastoral  mountain  succeed 
each  other,  like  the  long  and  sighing  swell  which 
moves  over  quiet  waters  from  some  far-off  stormy 
sea. 

"  And  there  is  a  deep  tenderness  pervading  that 
vast  monotony.  The  destructive  forces  and  the  stern 
expression  of  the  central  ranges  are  alike  withdrawn. 
No  frost-ploughed,  dust-encumbered  paths  of  ancient 
glacier  fret  the  soft  Jura  pastures ;  no  splintered 
heaps  of  ruin  break  the  fair  ranks  of  her  forests ;  no 
pale,  defiled,  or  furious  rivers  rend  their  rude  and 
changeful  ways  among  her  rocks.  Patiently,  eddy  by 
eddy,  the  clear  green  streams  wind  along  their  well- 
known  beds  ;  and  under  the  dark  quietness  of  the  un- 
disturbed pines  there  spring  up,  year  by  year,  such 
company  of  joyful  flowers  as  I  know  not  the  like 
among  all  the  blessings  of  the  earth." 

Long  faults,  or  fractures,  where  the  strata 
have  been  first  bent  and  then  broken,  and  after- 
wards have  been  forced  up  or  have  slid  down 
hundreds  or  even  thousands  of  feet,  are  very 
numerous  in  mountain-ranges ;  and  by  suddenly 
bringing   quite  a  different   set   of  rocks  to  the 


302  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

surface,  these  faults  cause  considerable  difficulty 
to  the  geologist,  as  he  goes  over  the  ground 
and  endeavours  to  trace  the  positions  of  the 
different  rocks. 

In  these  vast  folds  it  sometimes  happens 
that  portions  of  older  (and  lower)  strata  are 
caught  up  and  so  embedded  among  those  of 
newer  rocks.  It  will  therefore  be  readily  per- 
ceived that  to  unravel  the  geological  structure 
of  a  great  mountain-chain  is  no  easy  task. 
We  need  not  then  be  surprised  if  in  some  cases 
the  arrangement  of  the  rocks  of  mountains  is 
not  thoroughly  understood.  The  wonder  is, 
when  we  think  of  the  numerous  difficulties 
which  the  geologist  encounters,  —  the  arduous 
ascents,  the  precipices,  glaciers,  snowfields  ob- 
scuring the  rocks  from  his  view,  the  overlying 
soil  of  the  lower  parts,  and  the  steep  crests 
and  dangerous  ridges  that  separate  the  snow- 
fields,  —  that  so  much  has  already  been  discov- 
ered in  this  difficult  branch  of  geology. 

However,  the  general  arrangement  of  the 
rocks  of  which  many  mountain-chains  are  com- 
posed has  been  satisfactorily  made  out  in  not  a 
few  cases.  Let  us  look  into  some  of  these 
and  see  what  has  been  discovered. 


Mountain  Architecture.  303 

You  will  remember  the  structure  of  the 
Weald,  described  in  chap.  vii.,  pp.  235-238,  and 
how  we  showed  that  a  great  low  arch  of  chalk 
strata  has  been  entirely  removed  over  that  area, 
so  that  at  the  present  time  only  its  ends  are  seen 
forming  the  escarpments  of  the  North  and  South 
Downs.  This  area,  then,  is  now  a  great  open 
valley,  or  rather  a  gently  undulating  plain  en- 
closed by  low  chalk  hills.  Now,  an  arch  of  this 
kind  is  called  an  "  anticline,"  and  it  might  have 
been  expected  that  it  would  have  remained  more 
or  less  unbroken  to  the  present  day.  Why,  then, 
has  it  suffered  destruction  ? 

In  the  first  place,  chalk  is  a  soft  rock,  and  one 
that  rain  water  can  dissolve ;  but  more  than  that, 
its  arch-like  structure  was  against  it,  and  its 
chance  of  preservation  was  decidedly  small.  In 
architecture  the  arch  is  the  most  firm  and  stable 
structure  that  can  be  made ;  but  not  so  with 
strata,  and  this  is  the  reason.  Such  an  arch  was 
not  made  of  separate  blocks,  closely  fitting  and 
firmly  cemented  together ;  on  the  contrary,  the 
arch  was  stretched  and  heaved  up  from  below. 
It  therefore  must  have  been  more  or  less  cracked 
up  ;  for  rocks  are  apt  to  split  when  bent,  although 
when  deeply  buried  under  a  great  thickness  of 


304  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

overlying  rocks,  they  will  bend  very  considerably 
without  snapping.  But  this  was  not  the  case 
here.  And  so  the  forces  of  denudation  set  to 
work  upon  an  already  somewhat  broken  mass  of 
rock.  Try  to  picture  to  yourself  this  old  low 
arch  of  chalk  as  it  was  when  it  first  appeared  as 
dry  land.  Probably  some  of  it  had  already 
been  planed  away  by  the  waves  of  the  sea,  and 
what  was  left  was  by  no  means  well  calculated  to 
withstand  the  action  of  the  agents  of  denudation. 
If  you  look  back  to  the  figure,  you  will  see  the 
dotted  lines  showing  the  former  outline  of  this 
anticline,  or  arch,  and  you  perceive  at  once  that 
the  strata  must  have  been  sloping  outwards 
away  from  the  middle.  Now,  this  one  fact 
greatly  influenced  its  fate,  for  an  anticline 
cannot  be  regarded  as  a  strong  or  stable  arrange- 
ment of  strata.  It  is  easy  to  see  why  ;  suppose 
a  little  portion  were  cut  away  on  one  side  at  its 
base  by  some  stream.  It  is  clear  that  a  kind  of 
overhanging  cliff  would  be  left,  and  blocks  of 
chalk  would  sooner  or  later  come  rolling  down 
into  the  valley  of  the  little  stream.  When  these 
had  fallen,  they  would  leave  an  inclined  plane 
down  which  others  would  follow  ;  and  this  would 
continue  to  take  place  until  the  top  of  the  arch 


Mountain  Architecture.  305 

was  reached.  The  same  reasoning  applies  to  the 
other  side.  It  is  very  seldom  that  arches,  or 
anticlines,  can  last  for  a  long  time.  The  outward 
slope  of  the  strata  and  their  broken  condition 
are  against  them. 

But  when  the  rocks  dip  inwards,  to  form  a 
kind  of  trough  or  basin,  it  is  just  the  opposite. 
Such  basins  are  known  as  "  synclines  ;  "  and  a 
structure  of  this  kind  can  be  shown  to  be  much 
more  stable  and  permanent  than  an  anticline. 
The  strata,  instead  of  being  stretched  out  and 
cracked  open,  have  been  squeezed  together. 

It  is  very  important  to  bear  this  in  mind, 
and  to  remember  how  differently  anticlines  and 
synclines  are  affected ;  for  this  simple  rule  is 
illustrated  over  and  over  again  in  mountain- 
ranges  :  — 

Anticlines,  being  unstable,  are  worn  away  until 
they  become  valleys. 

Synclines,  being  stable,  are  left  and  frequently 
form  mountains. 

Now  look  at  the  section  through  the  Appala- 
chian chain  (see  Fig.  I),  and  you  will  see  that 
each  hill  is  a  syncline,  and  the  valleys  between 
them  are  anticlines.  This  happens  so  fre- 
quently that  almost  every  range  of  mountains 


306  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

furnishes  examples ;  but  as  every  rule  has  its 
exceptions,  so  this  one  has,  and  we  may  find 
an  example  in  the  case  of  the  Jura  Mountains 
outside  the  Alps. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  section  that  the  ridges 
are  formed  by  anticlines,  and  the  valleys  by  syn- 
clines.  But  on  looking  a  little  more  closely,  we 
see  that  the  tops  of  the  former  have  suffered  a 
considerable  amount  of  erosion  (as  indicated  by 
the  dotted  lines).  Now,  the  reason  why  they 
have  not  been  completely  worn  down  into  val- 
leys is  that  these  rocks  were  once  covered  by 
others  overlying  them,  so  that  this  outer  cover- 
ing of  rocks  had  first  to  be  removed  before  they 
could  be  attacked  by  rain  and  rivers.  These 
wave-like  ridges  of  the  Jura  are  being  slowly 
worn  down ;  and  the  time  must  come  when  they 
will  be  carved  out  into  valleys,  while  the  syn- 
clines  between  them  will  stand  out  as  hills.  It 
is  simply  a  question  of  time.  But  many  moun- 
tain-chains have  a  far  more  complicated  struc- 
ture than  that  of  the  Appalachians,  and  consist 
of  violently  crumpled  and  folded  strata  (see 
section  of  Mont  Blanc,  Fig.  3). 

It  might  naturally  be  asked  how  such    sec- 
tions are  made,  considering  that  we  cannot  cut 


Mountain  Architecture. 


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308  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

through  mountains  in  order  to  find  out  their 
structure  ;  but  Nature  cuts  them  up  for  us, 
gashing  their  sides  with  ravines  and  valleys 
carved  out  by  streams  and  rivers,  and  in  steep 
cliffs  and  precipices  we  find  great  natural  sec- 
tions that  serve  our  purpose  almost  equally  well. 
Sometimes,  however,  we  get  considerable  help 
from  quarries  and  railway-cuttings. 

Take,  for  example,  one  of  the  synclinal  folds 
in  the  Appalachian  chain.  Its  structure  is 
ascertained  somewhat  as  follows.  Suppose  you 
began  to  ascend  the  hill,  armed  with  a  good 
map,  a  pocket-compass,  a  clinometer,  —  a  little 
instrument  for  measuring  the  angles  at  which 
strata  dip  or  slope,  —  and  with  a  bag  on  your 
back  for  specimens  of  rocks  and  fossils.  At 
the  base  of  the  hill  you  might  notice  at  starting 
a  certain  layer  of  rock  —  say  a  limestone  —  ex- 
posed by  the  side  of  the  stream.  It  will  be  so 
many  feet  thick,  and  will  contain  such-and-such 
fossils,  by  means  of  which  you  can  identify  it ; 
and  it  will  dip  into  the  interior  of  the  hill  at 
a  certain  angle,  as  measured  by  the  clinometer 
As  you  rise  higher,  this  rock  may  be  succeeded 
by  sandstone  of  a  certain  thickness,  and  like- 
wise dipping  into  the  hill  ;    and  so  with  the 


Mountain  Architecture.  309 

other  rocks  that  follow,  until  you  reach  the 
summit. 

By  the  time  you  have  reached  the  top  of  the 
hill,  you  know  the  nature  of  all  the  rocks  up 
that  side,  and  the  way  they  dip ;  and  all  your 
observations  are  carefully  recorded  in  a  note- 
book. Then  you  begin  to  descend  on  the  other 
side,  and  in  so  doing  you  find  the  same  set  of 
rocks  coming  out  at  the  surface  all  in  the  same 
order ;  only  this  order  is  now  reversed,  because 
you  are  following  them  downwards  instead  of 
upwards.  Of  course  they  are  hidden  in  many 
places  by  soil  and  loose  stones ;  but  that  does 
not  matter,  because  at  other  places  they  are  ex- 
posed to  view,  especially  along  ravines,  carved 
out  of  the  mountain-side.  Also  rocks  "  weather  " 
so  differently  that  they  can  often  be  distin- 
guished even  at  a  distance. 

In  this  kind  of  way  you  can  find  out  the 
structure  of  a  mountain,  and  draw  a  section  of 
it  when  you  get  home,  by  following  out  and 
completing  the  curves  of  the  strata  as  indicated 
at  or  near  the  surface ;  and  you  find  they  fit  in 
nicely  together. 

Fig.  3  (see  page  307)  represents  what  is 
believed  to  be  the  general  arrangement  of  the 


310  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

rocks  of  Mont  Blanc.  The  section  is  greatly 
simplified,  because  many  minor  folds  and  all 
the  faults,  or  dislocations,  are  omitted.  Now, 
in  this  case  we  have  an  example  of  what 
is  known  as  the  "  fan-structure."  It  will  be 
seen  at  once  that  the  folds  have  been  consider- 
ably squeezed  together ;  and  the  big  fold  in  the 
centre  indicated  by  dotted  lines  has  been  so 
much  compressed  in  the  lower  part  —  that  is, 
in  what  is  now  Mont  Blanc  —  that  its  sides 
were  brought  near  to  each  other  until  they 
actually  sloped  inwards  instead  of  outwards. 

You  may  easily  imitate  this  structure  by 
taking  a  sheet  of  paper,  laying  it  on  the  table, 
and  then,  putting  one  hand  on  each  side  of  it, 
cause  it  to  rise  up  in  a  central  fold  by  pressing 
your  hands  towards  each  other.  Notice  care- 
fully what  happens.  First,  you  get  a  low  arch, 
or  anticline,  like  that  of  the  Weald.  Then  as 
you  press  it  more,  the  upward  fold  becomes 
sharper  and  narrower ;  then  continue  pressing 
it,  and  you  will  find  the  fold  bulging  out  at  the 
top,  but  narrowing  in  below  until  you  get  this 
fan-structure. 

This  is  just  what  has  happened  in  the  case  of 
the  Alps.    A  tremendous  lateral  pressure  applied 


Mountain  Architecture,  311 

to  the  rocks  heaved  them  up  and  down  into  great 
and  small  folds,  and  in  some  places,  as  in  Mont 
Blanc,  fan-structure  was  produced.  Imagine 
the  top  of  the  fan  removed,  and  you  get  what 
looks  like  a  syncline,  but  is  really  the  lower  part 
of  a  very  much  compressed  anticline. 

Now,  it  is  believed  that  all  mountain-ranges 
have  been  enormously  squeezed  by  lateral  pres- 
sure ;  and  the  little  experiment  with  the  sheet  of 
paper  furnishes  a  good  illustration  of  what  has 
happened.  A  table-cloth  lying  on  a  smooth 
table  will  serve  equally  well.  You  can  easily 
push  it  into  a  series  of  folds ;  notice  how  they 
come  nearer  as  you  continue  pushing.  You  see 
also  that  in  this  way  you  get  long  narrow 
ridges  with  valleys  between.  These  represent 
the  original  anticlines  and  synclines  of  moun- 
tain-ranges, which  in  course  of  time  are  carved 
out,  as  explained  above,  until  the  synclines 
become  hills  and  the  anticlines  valleys. 

Every  mountain-chain  must  originally  have 
had  long  ridges  like  these,  which  in  some  cases 
determined  the  original  directions  of  the  streams 
and  valleys ;  and  it  is  easy  to  see  now  why 
mountain-chains  are  long  and  narrow,  why  their 
strata  have  been  so  greatly   folded,    and  why 


312  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

we  get  in  every  mountain-chain  long  ranges 
of  hills  roughly  parallel  with  each  other  (see 
chapter  vL,  pages  177-178). 

The  reason  why  granite,  gneiss,  and  crystal- 
line schists  are  frequently  found  in  the  central 
and  highest  peaks  of  mountain-ranges  is  that  we 
have  the  oldest  and  lowest  rocks  exposed  to  the 
surface,  on  account  of  the  enormous  amount  of 
denudation  that  has  taken  place.  There  may 
be  great  masses  of  granite  underlying  all  moun- 
tain-chains ;  but  it  is  only  exposed  to  view  when 
a  very  great  deal  of  overlying  rock  has  been 
removed. 

It  was  thought  at  one  time  that  granite  was 
the  oldest  of  all  rocks,  and  that  mountain-chains 
had  been  upheaved  by  masses  of  granite  push- 
ing them  up  from  below  ;  but  we  know  now 
that  both  these  ideas  are  mistaken.  Some 
granites  are  certainly  old  geologically,  but  others 
are  of  later  date ;  and  it  is  certain  that  granite 
was  not  the  upheaving  agent,  but  more  likely  it 
followed  the  overlying  rocks  as  they  were 
heaved  up  by  lateral  pressure,  because  the  up- 
ward bending  of  the  rocks  would  tend  to  relieve 
the  enormous  pressure  down  below,  and  so  the 
granite  would  rise  up. 


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Mountain  Architecture.  313 

We  now  pass  on  to  a  very  different  example, 
where  mountains  are  the  result  of  huge  frac- 
tures and  displacements ;  namely,  the  numerous 
and  nearly  parallel  ranges  of  the  Great  Basin,  of 
Western  Arizona,  and  Northern  Mexico.  The 
region  between  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  the 
Wahsatch  Mountains,  extending  from  Idaho  to 
Mexico,  is  composed  of  very  gently  folded  rocks 
deeply  buried  in  places  by  extensive  outflows  of 
lava. 

Now,  in  this  case  the  earth-movements  caused 
great  cracks,  or  splits,  doubtless  attended  by 
fearful  earthquakes.  We  find  here  a  series  of 
nearly  parallel  fractures,  hundreds  of  miles  long, 
and  fifteen  to  thirty  miles  apart.  These  trav- 
erse the  entire  region,  dividing  the  rocks  into 
long  narrow  blocks.  There  is  evidence  to  show 
that  the  whole  region  was  once  much  more  ele- 
vated than  it  is  now,  and  has  subsided  thou- 
sands of  feet.  During  the  subsidence  along 
these  lines  of  fracture,  or  faults,  the  blocks 
were  tilted  sideways  ;  and  the  uptilted  blocks, 
carved  by  denudation,  form  the  isolated  ranges 
of  this  very  interesting  region  (see  illustration, 
chap,  viii.,  p.  273,  Fig.  1).  The  faults  are  indi- 
cated by  arrows  pointing  downwards ;  and  the 


314  The  Story  of  the  Hilts. 

dotted  lines  indicate  the  erosion  of  the  uptilted 
blocks. 

But  this  must  be  regarded  as  a  very  excep- 
tional case,  for  we  do  not  know  of  any  other 
mountain-range  formed  quite  in  the  same  way. 
Why  the  strata,  although  only  slightly  bent, 
should  have  snapped  so  violently  in  this  case, 
while  in  other  mountain-ranges  they  have  suf- 
fered much  more  bending  without  so  much 
fracture  and  displacement,  we  cannot  tell,  but 
can  only  suggest  that  possibly  it  was  because 
they  were  not  buried  up  under  an  enormous 
thickness  of  overlying  rocks,  which  would  ex- 
ert an  enormous  downward  pressure,  and  so  tend 
to  prevent  fracturing. 

There  are  many  other  deeply  interesting  ques- 
tions with  regard  to  the  upheaval  of  mountains 
which  at  present  cannot  be  answered. 

We  have  already  learned  to  alter  our  precon- 
ceived ideas  about  the  stability  and  immovable 
nature  of  the  earth's  crust,  and  have  seen  that 
it  is  in  reality  most  unstable,  and  is  undergoing 
continual  movements,  both  great  and  small. 
But  here  we  have  an  equally  startling  discov- 
ery, which  quite  upsets  all  our  former  ideas  of 
the  hard   and  unyielding  nature  of  the  rocks 


Mountain  Architecture.  315 

composing  the  earth's  crust;  for  we  find  that 
not  only  can  they  be  bent  into  innumerable 
folds  and  little  puckerings,  but  that  in  some 
cases  they  have  been  drawn  out  and  squeezed 
as  if  they  were  so  much  soft  putty.  The  imagi- 
nation almost  fails  to  grasp  such  facts  as  these. 

Of  late  years  geologists  in  Switzerland  and  in 
Great  Britain  have  discovered  that  in  some 
parts  of  mountains  rocks  have  been  enor- 
mously distorted  and  crushed,  so  that  they  have 
assumed  very  different  states  from  those  in 
which  they  were  made,  and  curious  mineral 
changes  have  taken  place  under  the  influence 
of  this  crushing. 

In  the  very  complicated  region  of  the  North- 
west Highlands  of  Sutherland  and  Ross,  the 
structure  of  which  has  only  lately  been  ex- 
plained, some  wonderful  discoveries  of  this 
nature  have  been  made.  Certain  of  the  crys- 
talline schists  found  there  have  been  formed  by 
the  crushing  down  and  rearrangement  of  older 
rocks  that  once  presented  a  very  different  ap- 
pearance. In  this  district,  where  the  rocks  have 
been  squeezed  by  enormous  lateral  pressure,  the 
dislocations  sometimes  have  assumed  the  form  of 
inclined  or  undulating  planes,  the  rocks  above 


316  The  Story  of  the  Hills* 

which  have  been  actually  pushed  over  those  be- 
low, and  in  some  cases  the  horizontal  displace- 
ment amounts  to  many  miles. 

Not  only  have  the  rocks  been  ruptured,  and 
older,  deep-seated  masses  been  torn  up  and 
driven  bodily  over  younger  strata  (that  once 
were  above  them),  but  there  has  been  at  the 
same  time  such  an  amount  of  internal  shearing 
as  to  crush  the  rocks  into  a  finely  divided  ma- 
terial, and  to  give  rise  to  a  streaky  arrangement 
of  the  broken  particles,  closely  resembling  the 
flow-structure  of  a  lava.  In  the  crushed  mate- 
rial new  minerals  have  been  sometimes  so 
developed  as  to  produce  a  true  schist.1 

1  Geikie. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  AGES  OF  MOUNTAINS,  AND  OTHER  QUESTIONS. 

O  Earth,  wbat  changes  hast  thou  seen ! 

Tennyson. 

It  might  naturally  be  asked  at  what  period 
in  the  world's  primeval  or  geological  history 
some  particular  mountain-range  was  upheaved ; 
whether  it  is  younger  or  older  than  another 
one  perhaps  not  very  far  away ;  and  again, 
whether  the  mountain-chains  of  the  world 
have  been  uplifted  all  at  once,  or  whether 
the  process  of  elevation  was  prolonged  and 
gradual  ? 

Questions  such  as  these  are  deeply  interest- 
ing, and  present  to  the  geologist  some  of  the 
most  fascinating  problems  to  be  met  with  in  the 
whole  range  of  this  science.  And  though  at 
first  sight  they  might  seem  hopelessly  beyond 
our  reach,  yet  even  here  the  prospect  is  by 
no  means  unpromising ;  and  it  is  quite  possible 
to  show  that  they  can  be  answered  to  some 
extent.     Here  we  shall  find  our  illustration  of 


318  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

the  cathedral  (see  chapter  v.,  pages  143-147) 
holds  good  once  more. 

It  is  perhaps  hardly  necessary  to  explain 
that  by  looking  at  a  Gothic  cathedral  one  can 
say  at  what  period  or  periods  it  was  built. 
Perhaps  it  has  a  Norman  nave,  with  great  pil- 
lars and  rounded  arches.  Then  the  chancel 
might  be  Early  English,  with  pointed  windows 
and  deep  mouldings,  and  other  features  that 
serve  to  mark  the  style  of  the  building,  and 
therefore  its  date,  —  because  different  styles 
prevailed  at  different  periods.  Other  parts 
might  contain  work  easily  recognised  as  be- 
longing to  the  "  Perpendicular '    period. 

Now,  as  there  have  been  periods  in  the 
history  of  architecture  and  art,  so  there  have 
been  periods  in  the  history  of  our  earth. 
What  these  periods  were,  and  how  we  have 
learned  to  recognise  them,  we  must  first  very 
briefly   describe.1 

There  are  two  simple  rules  by  which  the 
age  of  an  ordinary  sedimentary  rock  may  be 
ascertained.  This  is  fixed  (1)  By  its  position 
with  regard  to  others ;   (2)   By  the  nature  of  its 

1  For  a  fuller  account  see  the  writer's  "  Autobiography  of  the 
Earth." 


Ages  of  Mountains,  319 

embedded  animal  or  vegetable  remains,  known 
as  fossils. 

These  rules  may  easily  be  illustrated  by  a 
reference  to  the  methods  of  the  antiquary.  For 
instance,  suppose  you  were  going  to  build  a 
house,  and  the  foundations  had  just  been  dug 
out ;  you  might  on  examining  them  find  several 
old  layers  of  soil,  showing  that  the  site  or  neigh- 
bourhood had  been  formerly  occupied.  You 
might  find  in  one  layer  stone  implements,  in 
another  Roman  or  early  British  pottery,  and  yet 
again  portions  of  brick  or  stonework,  together 
with  tools  or  articles  of  domestic  use,  belonging, 
say,  to  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  Now,  which 
of  these  layers  would  be  the  oldest  ?  It  is  quite 
clear  that  the  lowest  layers  must  have  been  there 
the  longest,  because  the  others  accumulated  on 
the  top  of  them. 

The  explorations  made  of  late  years  under 
Jerusalem  have  led  to  the  interesting  discovery 
that  the  modern  city  is  built  up  on  the  remains 
of  thirteen  former  cities  of  Jerusalem,  all  of 
which  have  been  destroyed  in  one  way  or  an- 
other. Here,  again,  it  is  quite  clear  that  the 
oldest  layer  of  debris  must  be  that  which  lies  at 
the  bottom,  and  the  newest  will  be  the  one  on 
the  top. 


320  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

Again,  you  know  that  the  "  Stone  Age "  in 
Britain  came  before  the  Roman  occupation. 
Those  old  stone  implements  were  made  by  a 
barbarous  race,  who  knew  very  little  of  agricul- 
ture or  the  arts  of  civilisation.  Then  in  succeed- 
ing centuries  various  arts  were  introduced,  many 
relics  of  which  are  found  buried  in  the  soil ;  and 
hence,  since  different  styles  of  art  and  architec- 
ture prevailed  at  different  periods,  the  works  of 
art  or  industry  embedded  in  any  old  layers  of 
soil  serve  to  fix  the  date  of  those  layers. 

These  layers  of  soil  and  debris  correspond  to 
the  layers  or  strata  of  the  sedimentary  rocks,  in 
which  the  different  chapters  of  the  world's  his- 
tory are  recorded.  Geology  is  only  another  kind 
of  history ;  and  the  same  principles  which  guide 
the  archaeologist  searching  buried  cities  also 
guide  the  geologist  in  reading  the  stony  record. 
As  the  illustrious  Hutton  said,  "  The  ruins  of 
an  older  world  are  visible  in  the  present  state  of 
our  planet."  The  successive  layers  of  ruin  in 
this  case  are  to  be  seen  in  the  great  series  of  the 
stratified  rocks  ;  and  we  may  lay  it  down  as  an 
axiom  that  the  lowest  strata  are  the  oldest,  un- 
less by  some  subsequent  disturbance  the  order 
should  have  been  reversed,  which,  fortunately, 
is  a   rare  occurrence,  though   examples  are  to 


Ages  of  Mountains.  321 

be  found  in  some  mountain-chains  with  violent 
foldings. 

But  it  often  happens  that  neither  the  strata 
which  should  come  above  nor  those  that  lie  be- 
low can  be  seen.  Then  our  second  rule  comes 
in :  We  can  determine  the  age  of  the  rock  in 
question  by  its  fossils.  The  reason  of  this  has 
perhaps  already  been  guessed  by  the  reader.  It 
is  that  as  different  kinds  of  plants  and  animals 
have  prevailed  at  different  periods  of  the  world's 
history,  so  there  have  been  "  styles,"  or  fashions, 
in  creation,  as  well  as  in  art.  At  one  geological 
period  certain  curious  types  of  fishes  flourished 
which  are  now  almost  extinct,  only  a  few  old- 
fashioned  survivals  being  found  in  one  or 
two  out-of-the-way  places.  At  another  period 
certain  types  of  reptiles  flourished  vigorously, 
and  were  the  leaders  in  their  day-  but  they 
have  altogether  vanished  and  become  extinct. 
So  one  type  after  another  has  appeared  on  the 
scene,  played  its  humble  part  in  the  great 
drama  of  life ;  and  then  —  "  exit ! '  another 
takes  its  place. 

In  the  oldest  and  lowest  of  the  series  of  rocks 
we  find  no  certain  trace  of  life  at  all.  In  the 
next  series  we  find  only  lowly  creatures,  such 
as  shell-fish,  corals,  and  crab-like  animals  that 


322  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

have  no  backbone.  In  a  higher  group  of  rocks 
fishes  appear  for  the  first  time.  Later  on,  we 
come  across  the  remains  of  amphibious  creatures 
for  the  first  time.  Then  follows  (after  a  long 
unrecorded  interval)  an  era  when  reptiles  and 
birds  existed  in  great  numbers.  After  another 
long  interval  we  come  to  strata  containing  many 
and  diverse  remains  of  mammals  or  quadrupeds. 
So  we  have  an  "  Age  of  Fishes,"  an  "  Age  of 
Reptiles/'  and  an  "  Age  of  Mammals."  Some 
tribes  of  these  creatures  died  out,  but  others  lived 
on  to  the  present  day.  Thus  we  see  that  there 
has  been  a  continuous  progress  in  life  as  the  world 
grew  older,  for  higher  types  kept  coming  in. 

To  the  geologist  fossils  are  of  the  greatest 
possible  use,  since  they  help  him  to  determine 
the  age  of  a  particular  set  of  strata,  for  certain 
kinds  of  fossils  belong  to  certain  rocks,  and  to 
them  only. 

But  the  classification  of  the  stratified  rocks 
has  been  carried  farther  than  this.  Practical 
geologists,  working  in  the  field,  use  fossils  as  their 
chief  guide  in  working  out  the  subdivisions  of  a 
group  of  rocks,  for  certain  genera  and  species  of 
old  plants  and  animals  are  found  to  belong  to 
certain  small  groups  of  strata.  In  this  way  a 
definite  order  of  succession  has  been  established 


Ages  of  Mountains.  323 

once  for  all ;  and,  except  in  the  case  of  inverted 
strata  already  alluded  to,  this  order  is  invariably 
found  to  hold  good. 

This  great  discovery  of  the  order  of  succession 
of  the  British  stratified  rocks,  established  by 
their  fossil  contents,  is  due  to  William  Smith, 
the  father  of  English  geology.  After  exploring 
the  whole  of  England,  he  published  in  1815  a 
geological  map,  the  result  of  his  extraordinary 
labours.  Before  then  people  had  no  idea  of  a 
definite  and  regular  succession  of  rocks  extend- 
ing over  the  country,  capable  of  being  recognised 
to  some  extent  by  the  nature  of  the  rocks  them- 
selves, —  whether  sandstones,  clays,  or  lime- 
stones, etc.,  but  chiefly  by  their  own  fossils. 
They  thought  the  different  kinds  of  rocks  were 
scattered  promiscuously  Hip  and  down  the  face  of 
the  country  ;  but  now  we  know  that  they  do 
not  show  themselves  in  this  haphazard  way,  but 
have  definite  relations  to  each  other,  like  the 
many  volumes  of  one  large  book. 

By  combining  the  two  principles  referred  to 
above,  geologists  have  arranged  the  great  series 
of  British  stratified  rocks  into  certain  groups, 
each  indicating  a  long  period  of  time.  First,  they 
are  roughly  divided  into  three  large  groups,  mark- 
ing the  three  great  eras  into  which  geological 


324 


The  Story  of  the  Hills. 


time  is  divided.  Secondly,  these  eras  are  fur- 
ther divided  into  certain  periods.  These  periods 
are  again  divided  into  epochs,  indicated  by  local 
divisions  of  their  rocks.  In  this  way  we  have 
something  like  a  historical  table.  Omitting  the 
small  epochs  of  time,  this  table  is  as  follows, 
in  descending  order :  — 


Era. 


Cainozoic, 

or 
Tertiary. 


Table  of  the  British  Stratified  Hocks. 

Period.  Prevailing  Type. 

Recent. 
Pleistocene, 
or 
-    Quaternary.  Mammals. 

Pliocene. 
Miocene. 
Eocene. 


Mesozoic, 

or 
Secondary. 


Palaeozoic, 

or 
Primary. 


Cretaceous. 
Neocomian. 
•    Jurassic. 
Triassic. 
Permian. 

Carboniferous. 
Devonian,  and 
Old  Red  Sandstone. 
Silurian. 
Cambrian. 
Archaean,1 

or 
Pre-Cambrian. 


Reptiles. 


Fishes. 

Creatures    without 
a  backbone  (inverte- 
brates). 


1  The  Archaean  rocks  are  frequently  placed  in  a  separate  group 
below  the  Palaeozoic. 


M 


Ages  of  Mountains.  325 

The  total  thickness  of  all  these  rocks  has 
been  estimated  at  about  one  hundred  thousand 
feet,  or  not  far  from  twenty  miles.  These 
names  have  been  given  partly  from  the  region 
in  which  the  rocks  occur,  partly  from  the  nature 
of  the  rocks  themselves,  and  partly  for  other 
reasons.  Thus  the  Old  Red  Sandstone  is  so 
called,  because  it  generally,  though  not  always, 
appears  as  a  dark  red  sandstone.  But  the 
Silurian  rocks,  which  we  find  in  North  Wales, 
receive  their  name  from  the  Silures,  an  ancient 
Welsh  tribe  ;  the  Cambrian  rocks  take  theirs 
from  Cambria,  the  old  name  for  North  Wales. 
The  Cretaceous  rocks  are  partly  composed  of 
chalk,  for  which  the  Latin  word  is  creta ;  and 
so  on.  The  terms  "  Palaeozoic,"  "  Mesozoic," 
and  "Cainozoic'  mean  "ancient  life,"  "middle 
life,"  and  "  recent  or  new  life,"  thus  indicating 
that  as  time  went  on  the  various  types  of  life 
that  flourished  on  the  earth  became  less  old- 
fashioned,  and  more  like  those  prevailing  at 
the  present  time.  These  used  to  be  called 
"  Primary,"  "  Secondary,"  and  "  Tertiary  ;  "  but 
the  terms  were  unfortunate,  because  the  pri- 
mary rocks,  as  then  known,  were  not  the  first, 
or  oldest.       We  have  therefore    included     the 


326  The  Story  of  the  Hilts. 

Archaean  rocks,  since  discovered,  in  this 
primary  group.  Only  one  fossil  has  been 
found  in  these  rocks,  and  that  is  a  doubtful 
one  ;  hence  they  are  sometimes  called  "  Azoic," 
that  is,  "  without  life."  The  Mesozoic  rocks  are, 
as  it  were,  the  records  of  the  "  middle  ages  '  in 
the  world's  history  ;  while  the  Palaeozoic  take 
us  back  to  a  truly  primeval  time. 

We  have  now  learned  how  the  geological 
age  of  any  group  of  rocks  may  be  determined. 
Thus,  if  a  series  of  rocks  of  unknown  age  can 
be  shown  to  rest  on  undoubtedly  Silurian  rocks 
in  one  place,  and  in  another  place  to  be  overlaid 
or  covered  by  undoubtedly  Carboniferous  rocks, 
they  will  probably  belong  to  the  Old  Red  Sand- 
stone Period.  If  afterwards  we  find  that  they 
contain  some  of  the  well-known  fossils  of  that 
period,  the  question  of  their  age  is  settled  at 
once.  But  we  want  more  evidence  than  this. 
Suppose,  now,  we  find  somewhere  on  the  flanks 
of  a  mountain -range  a  series  of  Permian  and 
Triassic  rocks,  resting  almost  horizontally  on 
disturbed  and  folded  Carboniferous  strata.  Does 
not  that  at  once  prove  that  the  upheaval  took 
place  before  the  Permian  Period  ?  Clearly  it 
does,  because  the  Permian  rocks  have  evidently 


Ages  of  Mountains,  327 

not  been  disturbed  thereby.  So  now  we  can  fix 
the  date  of  our  range  of  hills  ;  namely,  after  the 
Carboniferous  Period  and  before  the  Permian 
Period. 

It  is  by  such  reasoning  that  the  age  of  our 
Pennine  range  of  hills,  extending  from  the  north 
of  England  into  Derbyshire,  has  been  fixed  ;  for 
the  Permian  and  Triassic  strata  lie  undisturbed 
on  the  upheaved  arch  of  Carboniferous  rocks  of 
which  this  chain  is  composed.  Its  structure  is 
that  of  a  broken  and  much  denuded  anticline, 
which  stands  up  to  form  a  line  of  hills  only  be- 
cause the  Carboniferous  limestone  is  so  much 
harder  than  the  "  coal  measures,"  or  coal-bear- 
ing rocks,  on  each  side  of  it,  that  it  has  not  been 
worn  away  so  fast.  In  time,  this  great  anti- 
cline will  be  entirely  worn  away  like  that  of  the 
Weald.  It  is  called  the  Great  Mountain  Lime- 
stone, because  it  so  often  rises  up  to  form  high 
ground.  The  Mendip  Hills  in  Somersetshire  are 
of  about  the  same  date,  and  they  too  are  largely 
composed  of  this  great  limestone  formation. 

Of  course,  a  certain  amount  of  up  and  down 
movement  took  place  after  the  hills  were  up- 
heaved, otherwise  the  Permian  and  Triassic 
rocks  could  not  have  been  deposited  on  their 


328  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

sides ;  but  these  movements  were  slight  and  of 
a  more  general  kind  than  those  by  which  strata 
are  thrown  into  folds. 

The  main  upheaval,  by  which  the  rocks  now 
forming  the  Highlands  of  Scotland  were  lifted 
up  and  contorted,  took  place  after  the  Lower 
Silurian  Period,  and  before  that  of  the  Old  Red 
Sandstone ;  and  there  is  clear  evidence  that  even 
before  the  latter  period  they  had  not  only  been 
greatly  altered,  or  "  metamorphosed,"  by  subter- 
ranean heat,  but  that  they  had  suffered  enor- 
mous denudation.  And  the  work  of  carving  out 
these  mountains  has  gone  on  ever  since;  for 
even  in  Old  Red  Sandstone  times  they  were 
probably  not  entirely  covered  by  water.  The 
Highland  Mountains  are  therefore  older  than 
the  Pennine  range. 

Geologically  Scotland  belongs  in  great  part 
to  Scandinavia ;  and  the  long  line  of  Scan- 
dinavian Mountains  is  a  continuation  of  the 
Highlands,  and  so  is  of  the  same  age. 

Mountain-chains  and  hill-ranges  have  been 
upheaved  at  various  geological  periods;  and 
some  are  very  old,  while  others  are  much 
younger. 

Turning  to  the  southeast  of  England,  we  find 


Ages  of  Mountains.  329 

the  ranges  of  chalk  hills  forming  the  North  and 
South  Downs  (see  page  237).  As  explained 
previously,  these  owe  their  existence  to  the  up- 
heaval and  subsequent  denudation  of  the  low 
arch,  or  anticline,  of  the  Weald.  They  are 
called  "  escarpments,"  because  they  are  like 
lines  of  cliffs  that  are  being  gradually  cut 
back.  Now,  it  is  clear  that  these  hills  are 
much  newer  than  either  of  those  we  have 
just  considered.  Look  at  the  table  on  page 
324,  and  you  will  see  that  the  Cretaceous  rocks 
(chalk,  etc.)  belong  to  the  Mesozoic  era.  The 
chalk  was  the  last  rock  formed  during  the 
Cretaceous  Period. 

So  the  Wealden  arch  must  have  been  heaved 
up  after  the  chalk  was  formed ;  that  is,  ages 
and  ages  later  than  the  date  of  the  Pennine 
range  or  the  Scotch  Highlands.  From  other 
evidences  it  has  been  shown  that  this  anti- 
cline was  heaved  up  in  the  early  part  of  the 
Cainozoic  Era,  perhaps  during  the  Miocene 
Period. 

Let  us  now  take  the  case  of  the  Alps.  And 
here  we  have  an  instructive  example  of  a  great 
mountain  system  formed  by  repeated  movements 
during  a  long  succession  of  geological  periods. 


330  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

We  cannot  say  that  they  were  entirely  raised  up 
at  any  one  time  in  the  world's  past  history. '  In 
the  centre  of  this  great  range  we  find  a  series  of 
igneous  and  metamorphic  rocks,  such  as  granite, 
gneiss,  and  crystalline  schists.  Some  of  these 
may  belong  to  the  very  oldest  period,  —  namely, 
the  Archaean  ;  others  are  probably  Palaeozoic  and 
Cainozoic  deposits  greatly  altered  by  heat  and 
pressure. 

The  ground  from  Savoy  to  Austria  began  to 
be  an  area  of  disturbance  and  upheaval  towards 
the  close  of  the  Palaeozoic  Era,  if  not  before ;  so 
that  crystalline  schists  and  Carboniferous  strata 
were  raised  up  to  form  elevated  land  around 
which  Permian  conglomerates  and  shingle-beds 
were  formed, — as  on  the  seashore  at  the  pres- 
ent day. 

During  the  early  part  of  the  Mesozoic  Era 
local  fractures  and  certain  up  and  down  move- 
ments occurred.  After  this  there  was  a  long 
period  of  subsidence,  during  which  a  series  of 
strata  known  as  Oolites  and  Cretaceous  were 
deposited  on  the  floor  of  an  old  sea. 

Towards  the  close  of  this  long  era,  a  fresh 
upheaval  took  place  along  the  present  line  of 
the  Alps, —  an  upheaval  that  was  prolonged  into 


Ages  of  Mountains,  331 

the  Eocene  Period.  It  was  during  this  latter 
period  that  a  very  extensive  formation  known 
as  the  "  Nummulitic  limestone  '  was  formed  in 
a  sea  that  covered  a  large  part  of  Europe  and 
Asia.  We  have  already  referred  (see  chap,  v., 
pp.  169-171)  to  the  way  in  which  limestones 
have  been  formed.  Nummulites  are  little  shells 
that  were  formed  by  tiny  shell-fish. 

But  after  this,  the  greatest  upheaval  and  dis- 
turbance took  place,  —  an  upheaval  to  which  the 
Alps  as  we  now  see  them  are  chiefly  due.  By 
this  means  the  older  Cainozoic  strata,  once  lying 
horizontally  on  the  floor  of  the  sea,  were  raised 
up,  together  with  older  rocks,  to  form  dry 
land,  and  not  only  raised  up,  but  crumpled, 
dislocated,  and  in  some  cases  turned  upside 
down. 

So  intense  was  the  compression  to  which  the 
Eocene  rocks  were  subjected  that  they  were  con- 
verted into  a  hard  and  even  crystalline  state. 
It  seems  almost  incredible  that  these  highly 
altered  rocks  which  look  so  ancient  are  of  the 
same  date  as  our  London  clay  and  the  soft 
Eocene  deposits  of  the  south  of  England  ;  but 
in  our  country  the  movement  that  raised  up 
those  strata  was  of  the  most  feeble  and  gentle 


332  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

kind  compared  to  the  violent  disturbances  that 
took  place  in  Switzerland. 

And  here  we  may  point  out  that  the  Alps  are 
only  a  portion  of  a  vast  chain  of  mountains 
stretching  right  across  Europe  and  Asia  in  a 
general  east  and  west  direction,  beginning  with 
the  Pyrenees  and  passing  through  the  Alps,  the 
Carpathians,  the  Caucasus,  and  the  range  of  El- 
bruz to  the  Hindoo-Koosh  and  the  high  plateau 
of  Pamir,  called  "  the  roof  of  the  world,"  which 
stands  like  a  huge  fortress,  fifteen  thousand  feet 
high.  Thence  it  passes  to  the  still  higher  tracts 
of  Thibet,  great  plains  exceeding  in  height  the 
highest  summits  of  the  Alps,  being  enclosed  be- 
tween the  lofty  ramparts  of  the  Himalayas  on 
the  south  and  the  Kuen-Lun  Mountains  on  the 
north  ;  and  thence  the  mountain  wall  is  pro- 
longed in  the  Yuen-Ling,  In-Shan,  Khin-Gan,  and 
other  ranges  till  it  finally  passes  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean  at  Behring's  Strait. 

All  these  ranges  are,  as  it  were,  the  backbone 
of  the  great  continental  plateau  of  the  Old 
World,  and  doubtless  are  chiefly  due  to  those 
earth-movements  by  means  of  which  the  Alps 
were  upheaved.  The  last  grand  movement, 
which  raised  the  Mont  Blanc  range,  was  prob- 


Ages  of  Mountains.  333 

ably  rather  later,  and  seems  to  have  taken 
place  as  late  as  the  Pliocene  Period. 

At  the  present  day  no  great  movements  are 
taking  place  in  the  Alps ;  but  now  and  then 
earthquakes  visit  this  region,  and  serve  to  re- 
mind us  that  the  process  of  mountain-making 
is  still  slowly  going  on. 

Probably  there  have  been  times  in  the  his- 
tory of  all  these  mountain-ranges  when  move- 
ments took  place  of  a  more  violent  and  con- 
vulsive kind  than  anything  with  which  we 
are  familiar  at  the  present  day  ;  and  the  age 
we  live  in  may  be  one  of  comparative  repose. 
This  is  of  course  somewhat  a  matter  of  specu- 
lation ;  and  we  only  allude  to  it  because  there 
has  been  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  some  to 
carry  the  theory  of  uniformity  in  all  geo- 
logical operations  much  farther  than  Hutton 
or  Lyell  ever  intended.  But  at  the  same  time 
there  is  no  need  to  go  back  to  the  old  teaching 
of  sudden  catastrophes  and  violent  revolutions. 
We  only  wish  to  avoid  either  of  these  two 
extremes  and  to  take  a  safe  middle   course. 

How  rapidly  some  of  these  great  earth- 
movements  took  place  it  is  impossible  at  present 
to  say  ;  but  in  several   cases  it  can  be    shown 


334  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

that  they  were  quite  slow,  as  indicated  by 
the  testimony  of  the  rivers.  Thus,  the  rise  of 
the  great  Uintah  Mountains  of  the  Western 
States  was  so  slow  and  gradual  that  the  Green 
River,  which  flowed  across  the  site  of  the 
range,  so  far  from  being  turned  aside  as  they 
rose  up,  has  actually  been  able  to  deepen  its 
canon  as  fast  as  the  mountains  were  upheaved. 
So  that  the  two  processes,  as  it  were,  kept  pace 
with  each  other,  and  the  river  went  on  cutting 
out  its  gorges  at  the  same  time  that  the  ground 
over  which  it  flowed  was  gently  upheaved  ;  and 
as  the  land  rose  the  river  flowed  faster,  and 
therefore  acquired  more  power  to  cut  and  deepen 
its  channel.  This  is  a  valuable  piece  of  evi- 
dence ;  but  in  this  case  we  have  only  a  few  big 
broad  folds,  instead  of  the  violent  folding  seen 
in  the  Alps.  However,  certain  Pliocene  strata 
lying  on  the  southern  flanks  of  the  Himalayas 
show  that  the  rivers  still  run  in  the  same  lines 
as  they  occupied  before  the  last  great  upheaval 
took  place. 

We  have  seen  how  the  substance  of  the  moun- 
tains was  slowly  manufactured  by  means  of  such 
quiet  and  gentle  operations  as  may  be  witnessed 
at    the    present    day ;    how   the    rivers    of    old 


Ages  of  Mountains.  335 

brought  down  their  burdens  as  they  do  now,  and 
flung  them  into  the  sea  ;  how  the  sea  spread 
them  out  very  slowly  and  compacted  them  into 
level  layers,  to  form,  in  process  of  time,  the  hard 
rocky  framework  of  the  plateaux,  hills,  and 
mountains  of  the  world ;  how  vast  marine 
accumulations  were  also  slowly  manufactured 
through  the  agency  of  countless  generations  of 
humble  organisms,  subtracting  carbonate  of 
lime  from  sea  water  to  form  the  limestones  of 
future  ages ;  how  by  slow  earth-movements 
these  marine  deposits  were  reared  up  into  dry 
land ;  how  they  have  frequently  been  pene- 
trated by  molten  rocky  matter  from  below, 
which  occasionally  forced  its  way  up  to  the 
surface  and  gave  rise  to  various  volcanic  erup- 
tions, by  means  of  which  the  sedimentary  rocks 
were  often  considerably  baked  and  hardened, 
and  new  fissures  filled  up  with  valuable  metallic 
ores  and  precious  stones ;  how  lava-flows  and 
great  deposits  of  volcanic  ash  were  mingled 
with  these  sedimentary  rocks. 

Then  we  endeavoured  to  follow  the  history  of 
these  rocky  layers  after  their  upheaval,  and  learn 
how  they  are  affected  by  the  ceaseless  operations 
of  rain  and  rivers  and  other  agents  of  destruc- 


336  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

tion,  so  that  finally  the  upheaved  ridges  of  the 
lands  are  carved  out  into  all  those  wonderful 
features  of  crag  and  pinnacle  and  precipice  that 
give  the  mountains  their  present  shapes  and 
outlines.  All  this  we  were  able  to  account  for, 
without  the  aid  of  any  imaginary  or  unnatural 
causes. 

And,  lastly,  we  have  seen  that  even  where 
such  causes  might  seem  at  first  almost  indis- 
pensable, —  when  mountains  tell  us  of  mighty 
internal  forces  crumpling,  folding,  and  fractur- 
ing their  rocky  framework,  —  yet  even  there  we 
can  account  for  what  we  see  without  supposing 
them  to  have  been  torn  and  tossed  about  by 
any  very  violent  convulsions. 

Although  the  question  of  the  cause,  or  causes, 
of  earth-movements,  whereby  continents  are 
upheaved,  and  the  contorting,  folding,  and 
crumpling  of  the  rocks  of  mountains  produced, 
is  not  at  present  thoroughly  explained,  it  may 
perhaps  be  worth  our  while  to  consider  briefly 
some  of  the  views  that  have  been  put  forward 
on  this  difficult  subject.  The  words  "  upheaval ' 
and  "  elevation,"  in  reference  to  movements 
of  the  earth's  surface,  are  somewhat  misleading, 
but  are  used  for  want  of  better  terms.     They 


MOFNTATN   TN   THE   YOSEMTTE   VALLEY. 


Ages  of  Mountains.  337 

would  seem  to  imply  that  the  force  which 
produced  mountains  was  a  kind  of  upward 
push ;  whereas,  in  most  cases,  and  perhaps  in 
all,  the  force,  whatever  it  was,  did  not  act  in 
an  upward  direction.  So  it  should  be  under- 
stood that  we  employ  these  terms  only  to 
indicate  that  the  rocks  have  somehow  been 
carried  up  to  a  higher  level,  and  not  as  sug- 
gesting hoio  the  force  acted  by  which  they 
were  raised. 

It  seems  pretty  clear  that  in  the  case  of 
mountain-chains,  at  least,  the  force  acted  in 
a  horizontal  direction,  as  a  kind  of  side- 
thrust. 

This  we  endeavoured  to  illustrate  in  chap- 
ter ix.  by  means  of  a  simple  experiment  with 
a  sheet  of  paper ;  and  it  was  shown  how  folds 
similar  to  those  of  which  Mont  Blanc  is  com- 
posed could  be  imitated  by  simply  pressing 
the  sides  of  a  sheet  of  paper  inwards  with 
one's  two  hands  as  it  lies  on  a  table.  Such 
lateral  pressure,  it  is  thought  by  many,  must  be 
caused  by  the  shrinking  of  the  lower  and  hotter 
parts  of  the  earth's  crust  as  they  cool,  leaving 
the  outer  crust  unsupported,  so  that  it  gradually 
settles  down  onto  a  smaller  surface  below,  and 

22 


338  The  Story  of  the  Hills, 

in  so  doing  must  inevitably  be  wrinkled  and 
throw  itself  into  a  series  of  folds  (see  chapter 
vi.,  page  204). 

The  interior  of  the  earth  is  hotter  than  the 
outside  ;  and  since  there  is  good  reason  to  think 
that  the  whole  earth  was  once  upon  a  time  in  a 
highly  heated  and  perhaps  half  molten  condi- 
tion, we  are  compelled  to  believe  that  it  always 
has  been,  and  still  is,  a  cooling  globe.  Now, 
almost  all  known  substances  are  found  to  con- 
tract more  or  less  on  cooling  ;  and  so  if  the 
materials  of  which  the  earth  is  mainly  composed 
are  at  all  similar  in  their  nature  and  properties 
to  those  which  we  find  on  its  surface,  it  fol- 
lows that  the  earth  must  be  contracting  at  the 
same  time  that  it  is  cooling,  just  as  a  red-hot 
poker  will  contract  on  being  taken  out  of  the 
fire. 

Moreover,  we  find  that  hot  bodies  contract 
faster  than  those  that  are  merely  warm,  so  that 
a  red-hot  poker  contracts  more  during  the  first 
few  minutes  after  it  is  taken  out  of  the  fire  than 
it  does  after  it  has  passed  the  red-hot  stage. 
Hence  it  is  easy  to  see  that  the  interior  portions 
of  the  earth,  which  are  hotter,  must  be  contract- 
ing at  a  greater  rate  than  its  external  parts,  for 


Ages  of  Mountains,  339 

they  evidently  have  very  little  heat  to  lose. 
This  may  seem  rather  puzzling  to  the  reader  at 
first ;  for  it  might  be  argued  that  the  heat  from 
below  must  pass  through  the  external  layers,  or 
crust,  as  it  is  often  called.  But  it  should  be  re- 
membered that  this  is  not  the  only  way  in  which 
the  earth  loses  heat.  Think  of  the  vast  amount 
of  heat  given  out  from  the  earth  every  year  by 
volcanic  eruptions,  and  you  will  see  at  once  that 
much  of  the  cooling  takes  place  in  this  way, 
and  not  as  a  direct  flow  of  heat  from  the  inte- 
rior, as  in  the  case  of  the  poker.  A  single  big 
lava-stream  flowing  out  from  a  volcano,  and 
cooling  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  represents 
so  much  heat  lost  forever  ;  and  so  do  the  clouds 
of  steam  emitted  during  every  eruption ;  so, 
again,  do  even  the  hot  springs  that  are  continu- 
ally bringing  up  warm  water.  If,  then,  the 
lower  portions  of  the  earth  are  slowly  contract- 
ing, they  must  tend  to  leave  the  outer  portions 
of  the  crust  unsupported,  so  that  they  would  be 
compelled  by  their  own  enormous  weight  to 
settle  down.  Now,  we  know  that  something 
like  this  happens  in  coal  mines  ;  and  as  long 
passages  are  hollowed  out  below,  the  ground 
begins  to  "  creep,"  or  slowly  sink.     Think  what 


340  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

would  be  the  effect  of  a  slow  sinking  of  any 
portion  of  the  earth  down  towards  the  centre ; 
it  would  inevitably  be  curved  up  and  down  into 
numerous  folds,  as  it  endeavoured  to  get  itself 
onto  a  smaller  space,  much  in  the  same  way 
that  a  table-cloth,  when  thrown  onto  a  table 
in  a  kind  of  arch,  settles  down  in  a  series  of 
waves,  or  folds.  And  this,  it  is  thought,  is 
the  way  in  which  it  happens  that  the  pressure 
comes,  as  we  said  just  now,  sideways,  instead  of 
from  below  upwards.  It  is  on  this  theory  that 
many  geologists  account  for  the  enormous  side- 
pressure  to  which  rocks  have  in  many  cases 
been  subjected. 

The  evidences  of  such  pressure  are  many.  In 
some  cases  fossils  have  been  thereby  pulled  out 
of  shape  and  appear  considerably  distorted ;  in 
others,  even  hard  quartz  pebbles  have  been  con- 
siderably elongated  (see  chap,  ix.,  pp.  315-316). 
Then  again,  we  have  the  little  crumplings  of  all 
sizes  so  frequently  seen  in  mica-schists.  And 
lastly,  the  peculiar  property  that  slates  possess 
of  splitting  up  into  thin  sheets  is  found  to  be 
due  to  the  same  cause  ;  namely,  lateral  pressure. 
Slates  were  originally  formed  of  soft  dark  mud, 
and  on  being  subsequently  squeezed,  by  earth- 


Ages  of  Mountains,  341 

movements,  have  assumed  a  structure  known  as 
"  cleavage,"  whereby  their  tiny  mud-particles 
were  elongated,  and  all  assumed  the  same  direc- 
tion, thus  giving  to  the  rock  this  peculiar  prop- 
erty of  splitting.  It  can  be  proved  that  the 
pressure  came  in  a  direction  opposite  to  that  of 
the  planes  of  cleavage ;  and  it  is  found  that  the 
direction  of  the  cleavage  corresponds  in  a  gen- 
eral way  with  the  direction,  or  trend,  of  a  moun- 
tain-chain which  is  composed  partly  of  slates,  as 
in  North  Wales.  And  this  discovery  helps  and 
harmonises  with  what  we  have  already  said 
about  the  cause  of  the  folds  in  mountain-chains, 
for  the  same  force,  acting  sideways,  produced  the 
cleavage  and  the  folding,  etc. 

It  has  been  already  stated  that  in  a  large 
number  of  cases  a  mountain-range  has  a  central 
axis,  or  band,  of  granite  or  other  crystalline 
rock.  This  led  some  people  to  suppose  that 
the  granite  had  been  driven  up  from  below, 
and  in  so  doing  had  thrust  up  the  overlying 
rocks  seen  on  either  flank  of  the  chain ;  in 
other  words,  they  believed  granite  to  have  been 
the  upheaving  agent.  And  even  now  we  often 
find  unscientific  writers  speaking  of  the  volcanic 
forces  of  upheaval. 


Q 


42  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 


Having  very  little  idea  of  the  true  structure 
of  mountains,  they  believed  them  to  consist  of 
a  kind  of  core,  or  axis,  of  this  igneous  rock, 
with  sedimentary  rocks  sloping  away  from  it 
on  each  side.  This  was  a  very  simple  theory 
of  mountain-chains,  but  unfortunately  it  will 
not  bear  examination.  It  takes  no  notice  of 
the  folding  which  is  so  characteristic  of  moun- 
tain strata,  and  is  quite  out  of  agreement 
with  the  facts  of  the  case ;  so  it  must  be 
buried  among  the  archives  of  the  past.  Moun- 
tain-chains are  now  known  to  have  a  much 
more  complicated  structure  than  this,  —  thanks 
to  the  labours  of  many  subsequent  observers. 

That  illustrious  astronomer,  the  late  Sir 
John  Herschel,  threw  out  a  bold  suggestion 
on  this  subject,  which  in  the  light  of  recent 
discoveries  with  regard  to  the  delicate  adjust- 
ment between  the  internal  and  external  forces 
affecting  the  earth's  surface,  is  worthy  of  care- 
ful consideration.  His  idea  was  that  the  mere 
weight  of  a  thick  mass  of  sediment  resting 
on  any  portion  of  the  earth's  crust  might 
cause  a  certain  amount  of  sinking;  and  that 
this  would  cause  portions  on  either  side  to 
swell  up.     It  is  certain  that  as  great  deposits 


Ages  of  Mountains.  343 

of  sedimentary  materials  accumulate  on  the  floor 
of  an  ocean,  that  floor  slowly  sinks,  otherwise 
the  sea  would  become  choked  up,  and  dry  land 
would  take  its  place.  Now,  it  is  found  that 
every  great  mountain-chain  consists  of  many 
thousands  of  feet  of  strata  thus  formed  ;  and 
more  than  this  :  it  turns  out  that  a  greater 
thickness  of  such  materials  has  been  formed  in 
regions  where  we  now  see  mountain-chains  than 
in  those  continental  regions  that  lie  farther 
away  from  them.  This  is  an  important  fact, 
which  was  not  known  in  Sir  John  Herschel's 
time.  One  striking  example  may  be  mentioned 
here.  In  the  complicated  region  of  the  Appa- 
lachian chain  the  strata  are  estimated  to  have  a 
total  thickness  of  eight  miles  ;  while  in  Indiana, 
where  the  same  strata  are  nearly  horizontal, 
they  are  less  than  one  mile  thick.  Hence  it 
is  not  impossible  that  in  the  mere  accumu- 
lation, through  long  periods  of  time,  of  vast 
masses  of  strata  many  thousands  of  feet 
thick,  we  may  find  a  potent  cause  of  earth- 
movements. 

The  marginal  regions  of  oceans,  where  most 
deposition  takes  place,  seem  to  undergo  slow 
subsidence,  while  the  continents  seem  in  most 


344  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

places  to  be  as  slowly  rising.  Modern  geologists 
are  inclined  to  think  that  as  denudation  wears 
down  a  continental  surface,  removing  from  it  a 
great  quantity  of  solid  rocky  matter  (see  chap,  v., 
pp.  161-163),  the  pressure  below  is  somewhat 
lessened,  or  in  other  words,  so  much  weight  is 
taken  off ;  but  that,  on  the  other  hand,  as  this 
extra  amount  of  material  accumulates  on  the 
bed  of  a  neighbouring  ocean  the  pressure  is  in- 
creased by  a  corresponding  amount,  and  so  the 
balance  between  internal  and  external  forces  is 
upset,  and  movements  consequently  take  place. 
We  have  already  seen  that  the  external  parts  of 
the  earth  are  much  more  subject  to  movements 
than  might  have  been  expected ;  and  for  our 
part,  we  are  willing  to  believe  that  in  this  sim- 
ple way  upheaving  forces  might  be  called  into 
play  sufficient  to  account  for  even  the  elevation 
of  mountain-chains.  For  suppose  a  great  mass 
of  strata  to  continue  sinking  as  they  were 
formed,  for  long  periods  of  time  ;  what  seems  to 
follow  ?  The  downward  movement  would  go 
on  until  a  time  would  come  when  the  strata,  in 
endeavouring  to  settle  down  at  a  lower  level, 
would  (as  by  the  contraction  theory  above  ex- 
plained) be  forced  to  fold  themselves  into  ridges, 


Ages  of  Mountains.  345 

and  in  this  way  long  strips  of  them  might  even 
be  elevated  into  mountain-ranges. 

Another  ingenious  idea  was  suggested  by  the 
late  Mr.  Scrope,  whose  work  on  volcanoes  is 
well  known.  His  idea  was  that  when  a  large 
amount  of  sedimentary  material  has  accumulated 
on  any  large  area  of  the  bed  of  the  ocean,  it 
somewhat  checks  the  flow  of  heat  from  within, 
and  therefore  the  temperature  of  the  rocks 
forming  part  of  the  earth's  crust  below  will  be 
increased,  much  in  the  same  manner  as  a  glove 
checks  the  escape  of  heat  from  the  hand  and 
keeps  it  warm.  The  consequence  of  this  would 
be  expansion ;  and  as  such  expansion  would  be 
chiefly  in  a  horizontal  direction,  the  area 
would  bulge  upwards  and  cause  elevation  of 
the  strata  resting  on  it.  But  there  are 
several  difficulties  which  this  theory  fails  to 
explain. 

And  lastly,  Professor  Le  Conte,  holding  that 
the  contraction  theory  is  unsatisfactory,  ac- 
counts for  earth-movements  of  all  kinds  by  sup- 
posing that  some  internal  parts  of  the  earth  cool 
and  contract  faster  than  others.  Those  parts 
that  cool  fastest,  according  to  this  theory,  are 
those  that  underlie  the  oceanic  basins  or  troughs ; 


346  The  Story  of  the  Hills. 

while  the  continental  areas,  not  cooling  so  rap- 
idly, are  left  standing  up  in  relief.  This  theory, 
which  does  not  seem  very  satisfactory,  is  based 
upon  the  idea  that  some  parts  of  the  earth's  in- 
terior may  be  capable  of  conducting  heat  faster 
than  others.  We  know  that  some  substances, 
like  iron,  are  good  conductors  of  heat,  while 
others  are  bad  conductors ;  and  it  is  therefore 
conceivable  that  heat  may  be  flowing  faster 
along  some  parts  of  the  earth  than  along  others; 
and  if  so,  there  would  be  differences  in  the  rate 
of  contraction. 

There  are  various  theories  with  regard  to 
the  nature  of  the  earth's  interior.  One  of 
these  already  referred  to,  but  now  antiquated, 
supposes  our  planet  to  consist  of  a  thin,  solid 
crust  lying  on  a  molten  interior,  so  that  the 
world  would  be  something  like  an  egg  with 
its  thin  shell  and  liquid,  or  semi-liquid,  inte- 
rior. Now,  there  are  grave  reasons  for  refus- 
ing to  accept  this  idea.  In  the  first  place, 
a  certain  slow  movement  of  the  earth  known 
as  "precession/'  because  it  causes  the  preces- 
sion of  the  equinoctial  points  on  the  earth's 
orbit,  could  not  possibly  take  place  as  it  does 


Ages  of  Mountains.  347 

if  the  earth's  interior  were  in  this  loose  and 
molten   condition.     That    is  a  matter   decided 
by  mathematical  calculation,  on  which  we  will 
not  dwell  further.     Secondly,  we  obtain  some 
very  valuable   evidence    on   this  abstruse    sub- 
ject  from   the    well-known    daily   phenomenon 
of   the  tides,   caused,    as    the   reader  is  proba- 
bly aware,  by  the  attractions  of   the  sun  and 
moon ;   but  much  more  by  the  moon,  because 
she  is  nearer,  and  so  exerts  a  greater  pull  on 
the  ocean  as  each  part  of  the  world  is  brought 
directly  under  her  by  the    earth's    daily  rota- 
tion  on   its  axis.     The   waters    of   our  oceans 
rise  up  twice  each  day  as  they  get  in  a  line 
with  the  moon,  and  then  begin  to  fall  again. 
Thus  we  get  that  daily  ebb  and  flow  seen  on 
our  shores.     Now,  it  has  been  clearly  proved 
by  Sir  William   Thomson,   and  others,  that  if 
any  considerable  portion  of  the  interior  of  the 
earth  were  in  a  fluid  condition,  it  too  would 
rise    and    fall    every   day   as   the   ocean   does. 
So  we  should  in  that  case  have   a  tide   beloiv 
the  earth  as  well  as  on  its  surface,   and  the 
one  would   tend   to   neutralise   the  other,  and 
the   ocean   tide   ought   to    appear  less  than  it 
actually  is.     Even   if   the   earth's   crust   were 


348  The  Story  of  the  Hills, 

made  of  solid  steel,  and  several  hundreds  of 
miles  thick,  it  would  yield  so  much  to  the 
enormous  pulls  exerted  by  both  the  sun  and 
moon  that  it  would  simply  carry  the  waters 
of  the  ocean  up  and  down  with  it,  and  we 
should  therefore  see  no  appreciable  rise  and 
fall  of  the  water  relatively  to  the  land.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  there  is  a  very  slight  tide 
in  the  solid  earth  below  our  feet,  but  so 
slight  that  it  does  not  practically  affect  the 
tide  which  we  see  every  day  in  the  ocean. 
But  we  wish  to  show  that  were  the  interior 
of  the  earth  in  anything  approaching  to  a 
fluid  or  molten  condition,  the  phenomena  of 
the  tides  would  be  very  different  from  what 
they  actually  are. 

All  geologists  are  therefore  agreed  that  we 
must  consider  our  earth  as  a  more  or  less 
solid  body,  and  not  as  being  something  like 
an  india-rubber  ball  filled  with  water. 

The  only  question  is  whether  it  is  entirely 
solid  throughout.  Some  authorities  consider 
this  to  be  the  case.  But  others  venture  to 
think  that  while  the  great  mass  of  the  globe 
is  solid,  there  may  be  a  thin  liquid  layer 
lying  somewhere  below  the  surface.     Sir  Wil- 


Ages  of  Mountains.  349 

liam  Thomson  calculates  that  there  must 
be  a  solid  crust  at  least  two  thousand  or 
twenty-five  hundred  miles  thick  (the  diam- 
eter of  the  earth  is  about  eight  thousand 
miles)  and  that  the  mass  of  the  earth  "is 
on  the  whole  more  rigid  certainly  than  a 
continuous  solid  globe  of  glass  of  the  same 
diameter." 

One  other  question  with  regard  to  the 
earth's  interior  may  be  mentioned  in  conclu- 
sion. Astronomers  have  calculated  the  weight 
of  our  planet,  and  the  result  is  curious ;  for 
it  turns  out  to  be  at  least  twice  as  heavy  as 
the  heaviest  rocks  that  are  found  on  or  near 
the  surface.  It  is  about  five  and  a  half 
times  as  heavy  as  a  globe  of  water  of  the 
same  size  would  be,  whereas  most  rocks  with 
which  we  are  acquainted  are  about  two  and 
a  half,  or  at  most  three  times  heavier  than 
water.  This  fact  seems  to  open  out  curious 
consequences;  for  instance,  it  is  quite  possi- 
ble that  metals  (which  are  of  course  much 
heavier  than  water)  may  exist  in  the  earth's 
interior  in  considerable  quantities.  •  The  im- 
agination   at    once    conjures    up    vast   quanti- 


SO  The  Story  of  the  HiTs. 

ties  of  Bold  and  silver.  What  is  the  source 
of  the  Btold  and  silver,  and  other  metals  found 
in  mineral  veins?  This  question  cannot  u 
yet  be  fully  answered.  Very  small  quantities 
of  various  metals  have  been  de:  i  in  sea- 
water;  and  90  some  geologists  look  upon  the 
sea  as  the  source  from  which  metals  came. 
But  it  is  possible  that  they  were  introduced 
from  below. — perhaps  by  the  action  of  steam 
and  highly  heated  water  during  periods  of  vol- 
canic activity.  —  and  their  source  is  far 
down  below  in  the  depths  of  the  earth. 

But  perhaps  we  have  already  wandered  too 
far  into  the  regions  of  speculation. 

Such  are  some  of  the  in;  sting  problems 
suggested  by  the  study  of  mountains,  and 
they    add   no   small   charm   to   the    science   of 

geology. 

And  as  we  leave  the  mountains  behind  us. 
refreshed  by  their  bracing  air.  and  strength- 
ened for  another  season  of  toil  and  labour  by 
a  brief  sojourn  among  their  ^s  and  pa-  a 

we  come  awav  with  a  renewed  sense  of  the 
almost  unlimited  power  of  the  unhasting  op- 
erations of  Nature,  and  the  wisdom  and 
beneficence    of    the    G  Architect     of     t: 


-  Mount  351 

Universe,  who  made  and   plan:  s     snow- 

ipped    temples    aa    symbols   of   Hia    sti   ag 

who    was    work:..     :nillion>  wra    ig 

He   is   working  to-da        .nd  to  whom  a   thou- 
ura     .     m  one 


INDEX. 


Agents  of  transportation,  161. 

Ages  of  strata,  how  determined,  317— 
333. 

Air,  composition  of,  209. 

Alpine  animals,  124. 
plants,  103,  114. 

Alps,  the  history  of,  330.     (See  also 
Ruskin.) 

Ancients,   the,    their    dread    of  the 
mountains,  3. 

Andes,  the,  elevation  of,  189. 

Animals,  behaviour  of,  before  an  ava- 
lanche or  earthquake,  95. 

"Anticline,"  237,  303,  327. 

Appalachian  Mountains,  denudation 
of  the,  239,  305-309. 

Aqueous  rocks,  154. 

Archaean  Era,  324. 

Arctic  flora,  121. 

"Arthur's  Seat,"  277. 

Ashes,  volcanic,  245,  251,  260. 

Atlantic  ooze,  172. 

Atmosphere,  effects  produced  by  the, 
209. 
rarefaction  of,  79. 

Avalanches,  89. 


Badger,  the,  in  Alps,  128. 
Baltic  Sea,  changes  in,  182. 
Barrier  reef,  of  Australia,  170. 
Basalt,  of  Hebrides,  278. 

ofSuowdon,  272. 
Basin,  the  Great,  of  United  States, 

313. 


Bear,  brown,  125. 

black,  126. 
Beaver,  the,  in  Alps,  128. 
Bergfalls,  97. 

Bernina,  the,  fall  of  rocks  from.  98. 
Bird,  Miss  (Mrs.  Bishop),  on  erup- 
tion of  Kilauea,  262. 
Birds,  of  Alps,  134. 
Blueness  of  the  sky,  75. 
Bombs,  volcanic,  253. 
Bonney,  Prof.,  on  mountain  legends, 
23. 

on  effects  of  the  Alps  in  Europe, 
48. 

on  wind  on  mountain-tops,  84. 

on  Alpine  plants,  115. 

on  forms  of  mountains,  294. 
Boulders,  erratic,  225. 
Bouquetin,  the,  in  Alps,  133. 
Britain,  Great,  rainfall  of,  42. 
Building  up  of  mountains,  174. 
Butterflies,  in  Alps,  138. 
Buzzard,  the,  in  Alps,  136. 


Cader  Idris,  volcano  rocks  of,  272. 

Cainozoic  Era,  324. 

Callao,  189. 

Cambrian  rocks,  296,  324. 

Canisp  Mountain,  297. 

Canons  of  Colorado,  221. 

Carbonic  acid  in  atmosphere,  210. 

Carboniferous  Period,  324. 

Catastrophes,  215. 

Caves,  human  remains,  etc.,  in,  31. 


354 


Index. 


Celsius,  on  elevation  of  Gulf  of  Both- 
nia, 178. 

Chalk,  Cretaceous  rocks  composed  of, 
325. 
origin  of.     See  Limestones. 

Challenger,  H.  M.  S.,  expedition  of, 
251. 

Chamois,  the,  in  Alps,  130. 

Characteristics  of  mountain  races,  11. 

China  clay,  292. 

Classification  of  rocks,  157. 

Cleavage  of  slates,  151,  340. 

Coniferous  trees,  region  of,  111. 

Contortions  in  strata,  298,  311. 

Contraction  and  expansion  of  rocks, 
208. 

Contraction   theory    of    earth-move- 
ments, 338. 

Coral  reefs,  170. 

Cotopaxi,  259. 

Crystalline  schists,  312. 

Darwin,  Charles,  on  elevation  of  the 

Andes,  189. 
Deciduous  trees,  mountain  region  of, 

110. 
Dent  de  Mayen,  99. 
Dent  du  Midi,  fall  of  rock  from,  98. 
Denudation,  220,  229,  288,  312. 
Devonian  rocks,  324. 
Diablerets,  fall  of  rock  from,  98. 
Dislocations  of  mountain  rocks,  313, 

315. 
Dust,  volcanic,  245,  260. 
Dykes,  245. 

Eagle,  the  golden,  136. 
Earth-pillars  in  Tyrol,  221. 
Earthquakes,  95,  102,  196. 

effects  of,  198,  336. 

causes  of,  198,  200. 

Lucretius  on,  199. 
Earth-tremors,  194. 
Elevation  of  mountains,  146,  200,  202, 
299,  336. 

continents,  298-299. 
Encrinites,  171. 
Eocene  Period,  324. 


Equador  and  Peru,  earthquake  of, 

197. 
Eras,  geological,  324. 
Eruptions,  volcanic,  247. 

Fairies,  5. 

Falcon,  the,  in  Alps,  136. 

"  Fan-structure,"  310. 

"  Faults  "  and  fractures,  200,  313. 

Features  characteristic  of  mountains, 

177. 
Ferns,  118. 
Fishes,  Age  of,  322. 
Fissures,  268. 
Fohn,  the,  84. 
Foraminifera,  172. 
Fox,  the,  in  Alps,  127. 
Frog,  the,  in  Alps,  137. 
Frost,  effects  of,  on  mountain  rocks, 

212. 

Game-birds,  in  Alps,  137. 
Ganges  and  Brahmapootra,  167. 
Geikie,  Sir  A.,  on  influence  of  Scot- 
tish scenery,  21. 

on  the  Highland  plateau,  284. 

on  the  mountains  of  West  Suth- 
erland, 296. 
Giant's  Causeway,  basalt  of,  279. 
Glace,  Mer  de,  229. 
Glacial  drifts,  227. 
Glacial  region  of  vegetation  in  Alps, 

116. 
Glaciers,  erosive  power  of,  228. 
Glare  from  snow  in  Alps,  76. 
Gneiss,  156,  292. 
Gold  and  silver  in  mountains,  61. 

in  the  earth,  350. 
Grampians,  276. 
Granite,  210. 

weathering  of,  291. 

in  mountain-chains,  312. 
Greenland,  elevation  of,  186. 
Green  slates  and  porptn'ries,  275. 
Gulf  Stream,  42. 

Hare,  the,  in  Alps,  128. 
Hawaii,  256. 


Index. 


355 


Heat,  effects  of,  on  rocks,  1 54, 156, 160. 
underground,  of  the  earth,  338, 

345. 
Hebrides,  former  volcanic  action  in, 

278. 
Height,  influence  of,  on  vegetation, 

107. 
Herculaneum,  254. 
Highest  cluster  of  houses  in  the  world, 

79. 
Highlands  of  Scotland,  284. 
Himalayas,  description  of,  6. 
Hutton,"  142,  320. 

Iberian,  or  pre-Celtic  race,  30. 

Ice  Age,  the,  65,  123. 

Ice,  as  a  geological  agent,  223. 

Igneous  rocks,  155. 

Imbaburu,  eruption  of  mud  from,  259. 

Implements  of  stone,  31. 

Jackdaw,  the,  in  Alps,  136. 
Jura  Mountains,  300,  306. 
Jurassic  rocks,  324. 

Kilauka,  eruption  of.    (See   Bird, 

Miss.) 
Kite,  the,  in  Alps,  136. 
Krakatoa,  252. 

Labrador,  elevation  of,  192. 
Lake  District,  denudation  of,  220. 

volcanic  rocks  of,  275. 
Lakes,  origin  of,  47. 
Lateral  pressure,   applied  to  moun- 
tains, 310,  315,  337. 
Lichens  and  mosses.      (See  Ruskin. ) 
Limestones,  origin  of,  151,  153,  169. 
Lisbon,  earthquake  at,  197. 
Livingstone,  on  splitting  of  rocks,  212. 
Lizard,  the,  in  Alps,  137. 
Lyell,  Sir  Charles,  333. 
Lynx,  the,  in  Alps,  128. 

Mal  de  montagne,  80. 
Mammals,  age  of,  322. 
Marmot,  the,  in  Alps,  129. 
Mauna  Loa,  eruption  of,  256. 


Mendip  Hills,  327. 

Mer  de  Glace.     (See  Glace.) 

Metals,  precious,  60. 

in  the  earth,  349. 
Metamorphic  rocks,  156, 157, 298,  330. 
Mica-schist,  156,  293. 
Miller,  Hugh,  150. 

Milne,  Prof.,  on  earth-pulsations,  193. 
Minor  cones  of  volcanoes,  246. 
Miocene  Period,  278,  324. 
Mississippi,  denudation  by  the,  232. 
Moel  Tryfaen,  raised  beach  in,  186. 
Mont  Blanc,  310. 

Monte  Conto,  downfall  of,  in  1618, 101. 
Monte  Nuovo,  248. 
Moraines,  225. 
Mountain  limestone,  152. 
Mountains,  as  barriers  between  na- 
tions, 26. 

as  reservoirs  of  water,  43. 

human  wants  supplied  by,  58. 

influence  of,  on  climate,  62. 

causing  movements  in  the  atmos- 
phere, 65. 

as  backbones  of  continents,  67. 

floras  of,  103-124. 

forms  of,  how  determined,  282. 

general  features  of,  177,  283. 

structure  of,  how  determined,  308. 

elevation  of,  174,  313. 

formed  by  huge  dislocations,  313. 

Ruskin  on  uses  of,  68. 

•'      on  a  scene  on  the  Jura, 

300. 
"      on  flowers  of,  107. 
Mud-flows  from  volcanoes,  259. 

"  Needles,"  the,  of  Colorado,  221. 
Neptunists  and  Plutonists,  160. 
New  England,  elevation  of,  192. 
New  Zealand,  elevation  of,  190. 
Nummulites,  331. 

Old  Red  Sandstone,  150,  324. 
Olive  region,  the,  107. 
Organicalty  formed  rocks,  157. 
Ornamentation  of  mountains,  147. 
Oxygen,  in  air,  209. 


356 


Index. 


Paleozoic  Era,  324. 

Permian  rocks,  324. 

Pleistocene  rocks,  324. 

Pliocene,  324. 

Plutonists,  160. 

Pompeii,  buried  up,  254. 

Precious  stones  in  mountains,  277. 

Primary  Era,  324. 

Pulsations  of  the  earth.    (See  Milne.) 

Quinag,  297. 

Rabbit,  the,  in  Alps,  128. 

liaised  beaches,  185. 

Raven,  the,  in  Alps,  136. 

Red  clay,  of  Atlantic  Ocean,  252. 

Reptiles,  Age  of,  323. 

Righi  Mountain,  fall  of  rock  from, 99. 

Rivers,  transporting  power  of,  161- 

168. 
Roches  Moutonnecs,  227. 
11  Rocking  Stones,"  292. 
Ross  and  Sutherland,  mountains  of> 

315. 
Rossberg,  the,  fall  of  rock  from,  99- 

101. 
Ruskin,  on  effect  of  tourists  in  Swit- 
zerland, 21. 
on  effects  of  scenery  on  mythol^ 

ogy,  22. 
on  uses  of  mountains,  50. 
on  formation  of  soil,  55. 
on  lichens  and  mosses,  119. 
on  the  Alps,  289. 
on  a  scene  in  the  Jura  Mountains, 
300. 

Santorin,  island  of,  257. 
Scandinavia,  elevation  of,  180. 
Scenery,  influence  of  rocks  on,  219. 
Schists.    (See  Mica-schist.) 
Scotland,  former  volcanic  action  in, 

275. 
Set-beaches,  183. 
Sea-level,  constancy  of,  179. 
Secondary  Era,  324. 
Serapis,  Temple  of,  187. 


Silurian  Period,  324. 

volcanic  rocks  of,  272. 
Shearing    of    rocks    in    mountains, 

316. 
Skaptar  Jbkull,  lava-flow  from,  255, 

260. 
Smith,  William,  323. 
Snake  River  Plain,  258. 
Snow,  lambent  glow  of,  77. 
Snowdon,  volcanic  rocks  of,  272. 

denudation  of,  239. 
Spectre  of  the  Brocken,  the,  78. 
Stability  of  the  earth,  174,  314. 
Stanlev,  Dean,  on  capture  of  Canaan, 

*32. 
Stone  Age,  31. 
Storms  on  mountains,  81. 
Stratified  rocks,  table  of,  324. 

how  formed,  148,  176. 
Stria?,  glacial,  227. 
Submerged  forests,  192. 
Suilven  Mountain,  297. 
Sunsets,  71. 
Sutherland,    West,    mountains    of, 

296. 

Taurentum,  destroyed  by  downfall 
of  rocks,  97. 

Thames,  solid  matter  transported  by, 
168. 

Thunder-storms,  in  Alps,  86. 

Tomboro,  eruption  at,  260. 

"Tors,"  292. 

Tourmente,  the,  83. 

Transportation  by  rivers,  161,  166- 
169. 
by  glaciers,  224. 

Triassic  Period,  324. 

Types  of  plants  and  animals  at  differ- 
ent periods,  106. 


Upheaval  theory  of  mountains,  247. 
Uses  of  mountains,  33. 


Valleys,  how  carved  out,  214-230. 
Vesuvius,  history  of,  250. 


Index. 


357 


Vines,  the  region  of,  in  Alps,  109. 
Volcanoes,  number  of  active,  242. 

old  ideas  about,  2-44. 

structure  of,  described,  244. 

volcanic  rocks  of  Great  Britain, 
271. 
Vulture,  the  bearded,  134. 


Wall,  of  Antoninus,  185. 
Waterfalls,  origin  of,  218. 


"Water-vapour,  in  air,  34. 

condensation  of,  by  mountains, 
34. 
Waves  of  population,  30. 
Weald,  the  denudation  of,  235-230. 

structure  of,  303. 
Werner,  158. 
Wild-cat,  in  Alps,  128. 
Wolf,  the,  in  Alps,  126. 

Zones  of  climate  on  the  earth,  63. 


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A  story  of  pioneer  life  in  Tennessee  at  the  time  of  the  Cherokee 
uprising  in  1760.  The  frontier  fort  serves  as  a  background  to  this 
picture  of  Indian  craft  and  guile  and  pioneer  pleasures  and  hard- 
ships. 

CROCKETT.  RED  CAP  TALES.  By  S.  R.  Crockett.  8vo. 
Illustrated,     xii  +  413  pages. 

The  volume  consists  of  a  number  of  tales  told  in  succession 
from  four  of  Scott's  novels  —  "  Waverley,"  "  Guy  Mannering," 
''Rob  Roy,"  and  "The  Antiquary";  with  a  break  here  and  there 
while  the  children  to  whom  they  are  told  discuss  the  story  just 
told  from  their  own  point  of  view.  No  better  introduction  to 
Scott's  novels  could  be  imagined  or  contrived.  Half  a  dozen  or 
more  tales  are  given  from  each  book. 


DIX.     A  LITTLE  CAPTIVE  LAD.     By  Beulah  Marie  Dix.     12mo. 

Illustrated,     vii  +  286  pages. 

The  story  is  laid  in  the  time  of  Cromwell,  and  the  captive  lad 
is  a  cavalier,  full  of  the  pride  of  his  caste.  The  plot  develops 
around  the  child's  relations  to  his  Puritan  relatives.  It  is  a  well- 
told  story,  with  plenty  of  action,  and  is  a  faithful  picture  of  the 
times. 

EGGLESTON.     SOUTHERN    SOLDIER    STORIES.     By    George 

Cary  Eggleston.     12mo.     Illustrated.     xi-f-  251  pages. 

Forty-seven  stories  illustrating  the  heroism  of  those  brave 
Americans  who  fought  on  the  losing  side  in  the  Civil  War.  Humor 
and  pathos  are  found  side  by  side  in  these  pages  which  bear  evi- 
dence of  absolute  truth. 

ELSON.     SIDE  LIGHTS  ON  AMERICAN  HISTORY. 

This  volume  takes  a  contemporary  view  of  the  leading  events  in 
the  history  of  the  country  from  the  period  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  to  the  close  of  the  Spanish-American  War.  The 
result  is  a  very  valuable  series  of  studies  in  many  respects  more 
interesting  and  informing  than  consecutive  history. 

GAYE.  THE  GREAT  WORLD'S  FARM.  Some  Account  of 
Nature's  Crops  and  How  they  are  Sown.  By  Selina  Gaye. 
12mo.     Illustrated,     xii  4-  365  pages. 

A  readable  account  of  plants  and  how  they  live  and  grow.  It 
is  as  free  as  possible  from  technicalities  and  well  adapted  to 
young  people. 

GREENE.  PICKETT'S  GAP.  By  Homer  Greene.  12mo.  Illus- 
trated,    vii  +  288  pages. 

A  story  of  American  life  and  character  illustrated  in  the  per- 
sonal heroism  and  manliness  of  an  American  boy.  It  is  well  told, 
and  the  lessons  in  morals  and  character  are  such  as  will  appeal  to 

every  honest  instinct. 

HAPGOOD.  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  By  Norman  Hapgood. 
12mo.     Illustrated,     xiii  +  433  pages. 

This  is  one  of  the  best  one-volume  biographies  of  Lincoln,  and  a 
faithful  picture  of  the  strong  character  of  the  great  President,  not 
only  when  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  nation,  but  also  as  a  boy  and 
a  young  man,  making  his  way  in  the  world. 


HAPGOOD.  GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  By  Norman  Hapgood. 
12mo.     Illustrated,     xi  +  419  pages. 

Not  the  semi-mythical  Washington  of  some  biographers,  but  a 
clear,  comprehensive  account  of  the  man  as  he  really  appeared  in 
camp,  in  the  field,  in  the  councils  of  his  country,  at  home,  and  in 
society. 

HOLDEN.  REAL  THINGS  IN  NATURE.  A  Reading  Book  of 
Science  for  American  Boys  and  Girls.  By  Edward  S.  Holden. 
Illustrated.     12mo.     xxxviii  +  443  pages. 

The  topics  are  grouped  under  nine  general  heads :  Astronomy, 
Physics,  Meteorology,  Chemistry,  Geology,  Zoology,  Botany,  The 
Human  Body,  and  The  Early  History  of  Mankind.  The  various 
parts  of  the  volume  give  the  answers  to  the  thousand  and  one 
questions  continually  arising  in  the  minds  of  youths  at  an  age 
when  habits  of  thought  for  life  are  being  formed. 

HUFFORD.  SHAKESPEARE  IN  TALE  AND  VERSE.  By  Lois 
Grosvenor  Hufford.     12mo.     ix  +  445  pages. 

The  purpose  of  the  author  is  to  introduce  Shakespeare  to  such 
of  his  readers  as  find  the  intricacies  of  the  plots  of  the  dramas 
somewhat  difficult  to  manage.  The  stories  which  constitute  the 
main  plots  are  given,  and  are  interspersed  with  the  dramatic 
dialogue  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  tale  and  verse  interpret  each 
other. 

HUGHES.  TOM  BROWN'S  SCHOOL  DAYS.  By  Thomas  Hughes. 
12mo.     Illustrated,     xxi  +  376  pages. 

An  attractive  and  convenient  edition  of  this  great  story  of  life 
at  Rugby.  It  is  a  book  that  appeals  to  boys  everywhere  and 
which  makes  for  manliness  and  high  ideals. 

HUTCHINSON.  THE  STORY  OF  THE  HILLS.  A  Book  about 
Mountains  for  General  Readers.  By  Rev.  H.  W.  Hutchinson. 
12mo.     Illustrated,     xv  +  357  pages. 

"A  clear  account  of  the  geological  formation  of  mountains  and 
their  various  methods  of  origin  in  language  so  clear  and  untech- 
nical  that  it  will  not  confuse  even  the  most  unscientific,"  <■■■ 
Boston  Evening  Transcript, 


ILLINOIS  GIRL.  A  PRAIRIE  WINTER.  By  an  Illinois  Girl. 
16mo.     164  pages. 

A  record  of  the  procession  of  the  months  from  midway  in  Septem- 
ber to  midway  in  May.  The  observations  on  Nature  are  accurate 
and  sympathetic,  and  they  are  interspersed  with  glimpses  of  a 
charming  home  life  and  bits  of  cheerful  philosophy. 

INGERSOLL.  WILD  NEIGHBORS.  OUTDOOR  STUDIES  IN 
THE  UNITED  STATES.  By  Ernest  Ingersoll.  12mo. 
Illustrated,     xii  +  301  pages. 

Studies  and  stories  of  the  gray  squirrel,  the  puma,  the  coyote, 
the  badger,  and  other  burrowers,  the  porcupine,  the  skunk,  the 
woodchuck,  and  the  raccoon. 

INMAN.  THE  RANCH  ON  THE  OXHIDE.  By  Henry  Inman. 
12mo.     Illustrated,     xi  +  297  pages. 

A  story  of  pioneer  life  in  Kansas  in  the  late  sixties.  Adventures 
with  wild  animals  and  skirmishes  with  Indians  add  interest  to  the 
narrative. 

JOHNSON.  CERVANTES'  DON  QUIXOTE.  Edited  by  Clifton 
Johnson.    12mo.     Illustrated,     xxiii  +  398  pages. 

A  well-edited  edition  of  this  classic.  The  one  effort  has  been  to 
bring  the  book  to  readable  proportions  without  excluding  any  really 
essential  incident  or  detail,  and  at  the  same  time  to  make  the  text 
unobjectionable  and  wholesome. 

JUDSON.      THE  GROWTH   OF  THE  AMERICAN  NATION.      By 

Harry     Pratt     Judson.     12mo.     Illustrations     and      maps, 
xi  +  359  pages. 

The  cardinal  facts  of  American  History  are  grasped  in  such  a 
way  as  to  show  clearly  the  orderly  development  of  national  life. 

KEARY.  THE  HEROES  OF  ASGARD:  TALES  FROM  SCANDI- 
NAVIAN MYTHOLOGY.  By  A.  and  E.  Keary.  12mo. 
Illustrated.     323  pages. 

The  book  is  divided  into  nine  chapters,  called  "The  iEsir," 
"How  Thor  went  to  Jotunheim,"  "Frey,"  "The  Wanderings  of 
Freyja,"  "Iduna's  Apples,"  "  Baldur,"  "The  Binding  of  Fenrir," 
"The  Punishment  of  Loki,"  "Ragnarbk." 


6 

KING.     DE  SOTO  AND  HIS  MEN  IN  THE  LAND  OF  FLORIDA. 

By  Grace  King.     12mo.     Illustrated,     xiv  +  326  pages. 

A  story  based  upon  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  accounts  of  the 
attempted  conquest  by  the  armada  which  sailed  under  De  Soto  in 
1538  to  subdue  this  country.  Miss  King  gives  a  most  entertain- 
ing history  of  the  invaders'  struggles  and  of  their  final  demoralized 
rout;  while  her  account  of  the  native  tribes  is  a  most  attractive 
feature  of  the  narrative. 

KINGSLEY.  MADAM  HOW  AND  LADY  WHY:  FIRST  LESSONS 
IN  EARTH  LORE  FOR  CHILDREN.  By  Charles  Kingsley. 
12mo.     Illustrated,     xviii  +  321  pages. 

Madam  How  and  Lady  Why  are  two  fairies  who  teach  the  how 
and  why  of  things  in  nature.  There  are  chapters  on  Earthquakes, 
Volcanoes,  Coral  Reefs,  Glaciers,  etc.,  told  in  an  interesting  man- 
ner. The  book  is  intended  to  lead  children  to  use  their  eyes  and 
ears. 

KINGSLEY.  THE  WATER  BABIES:  A  FAIRY  TALE  FOR  A 
LAND  BABY.  By  Charles  Kingsley.  12mo.  Illustrated. 
330  pages. 

One  of  the  best  children's  stories  ever  written;  it  has  deservedly 
become  a  classic. 

LANGE.  OUR  NATIVE  BIRDS:  HOW  TO  PROTECT  THEM 
AND   ATTRACT   THEM   TO   OUR   HOMES.     By  D.   Lange. 

12mo.     Illustrated,     x  +  162  pages. 

A  strong  plea  for  the  protection  of  birds.  Methods  and  devices 
for  their  encouragement  are  given,  also  a  bibliography  of  helpful 
literature,  and  material  for  Bird  Day. 

LOVELL.      STORIES    IN    STONE    FROM   THE   ROMAN  FORUM. 

By  Isabel  Lovell.     12mo.     Illustrated,     viii-f  258  pages. 

The  eight  stories  in  this  volume  give  many  facts  that  travelers 
wish  to  know,  that  historical  readers  seek,  and  that  young  students 
enjoy.     The  book  puts  the  reader  in  close  touch  with  Roman  life. 

McFARLAND.      GETTING    ACQUAINTED    WITH    THE    TREES. 

By  J.  Horace  McFarland.     8vo.     Illustrated,    xi  4-  241  pages. 

A  charmingly  written  series  of  tree  essays.  They  are  not 
scientific  but  popular,  and  are  the  outcome  of  the  author's  desire 
that  others  should  share  the  rest  and  comfort  that  have  come  to 
him  through  acquaintance  with  trees. 


MAJOR.  THE  BEARS  OF  BLUE  RIVER.  By  Charles  Major. 
12mo.     Illustrated.     277  pages. 

A  collection  of  good  bear  stories  with  a  live  boy  for  the  hero. 
The  scene  is  laid  in  the  early  days  of  Indiana. 

MARSHALL.  WINIFRED'S  JOURNAL.  By  Emma  Marshall. 
12mo.     Illustrated.     353  pages. 

A  story  of  the  time  of  Charles  the  First.  Some  of  the  characters 
are  historical  personages. 

MEANS.  PALMETTO  STORIES.  By  Celina  E.  Means.  12mo. 
Illustrated,     x  +  244  pages. 

True  accounts  of  some  of  the  men  and  women  who  made  the 
history  of  South  Carolina,  and  correct  pictures  of  the  conditions 
under  which  these  men  and  women  labored. 

MORRIS.  MAN  AND  HIS  ANCESTOR:  A  STUDY  IN  EVOLU- 
TION. By  Charles  Morris.  16mo.  Illustrated,  vii  +  238 
pages. 

A  popular  presentation  of  the  subject  of  man's  origin.  The 
various  significant  facts  that  have  been  discovered  since  Darwin's 
time  are  given,  as  well  as  certain  lines  of  evidence  never  before 
presented  in  this  connection. 

NEWBOLT.  STORIES  FROM  FROISSART.  By  Henry  Newbolt. 
12mo.     Illustrated,     xxxi  +  368  pages. 

Here  are  given  entire  thirteen  episodes  from  the  "Chronicles" 
of  Sir  John  Froissart.  The  text  is  modernized  sufficiently  to  make 
it  intelligible  to  young  readers.  Separated  narratives  are  dove- 
tailed, and  new  translations  have  been  made  where  necessary  to 
make  the  narrative  complete  and  easily  readable. 

OVERTON.  THE  CAPTAIN'S  DAUGHTER.  By  Gwendolen 
Overton.     12mo.     Illustrated,     vii  +  270  pages. 

A  story  of  girl  life  at  an  army  post  on  the  frontier.  The  plot  is 
an  absorbing  one,  and  the  interest  of  the  reader  is  held  to  the  end. 

PALGRAVE.  THE  CHILDREN'S  TREASURY  OF  ENGLISH 
SONG.  Selected  and  arranged  by  Francis  Turner  Palgrave. 
16mo.     viii  +  302  pages. 

This  collection  contains  168  selections  —  songs,  narratives, 
descriptive  or  reflective  pieces  of  a  lyrical  quality,  all  suited  to  the 
taste  and  understanding  of  children. 


8 

PALMER.  STORIES  FROM  THE  CLASSICAL  LITERATURE 
OF  MANY  NATIONS.  Edited  by  Bertha  Palmer.  12mo. 
xv  +  297  pages. 

A  collection  of  sixty  characteristic  stories  from  Chinese,  Japa- 
nese, Hebrew,  Babylonian,  Arabian,  Hindu,  Greek,  Roman, 
German,  Scandinavian,  Celtic,  Russian,  Italian,  French,  Spanish, 
Portuguese,  Anglo-Saxon,  English,  Finnish,  and  American  Indian 
sources. 

RIIS.  CHILDREN  OF  THE  TENEMENTS.  By  Jacob  A.  Riis. 
12mo.     Illustrated,     ix  +  387  pages. 

Forty  sketches  and  short  stories  dealing  with  the  lights  and 
shadows  of  life  in  the  slums  of  New  York  City,  told  just  as  they 
came  to  the  writer,  fresh  from  the  life  of  the  people. 

SANDYS.  TRAPPER  JIM.  By  Edwyn  Sandys.  12mo.  Illus- 
trated,   ix  +  441  pages. 

A  book  which  will  delight  every  normal  boy.  Jim  is  a  city  lad 
who  learns  from  an  older  cousin  all  the  lore  of  outdoor  life  — 
trapping,  shooting,  fishing,  camping,  swimming,  and  canoeing. 
The  author  is  a  well-known  writer  on  outdoor  subjects. 

SEXTON.  STORIES  OF  CALIFORNIA.  By  Ella  M.  Sexton. 
12mo.     Illustrated,     x  +  211  pages. 

Twenty-two  stories  illustrating  the  early  conditions  and  the 
romantic  history  of  California  and  the  subsequent  development 
of  the  state. 

SHARP.  THE  YOUNGEST  GIRL  IN  THE  SCHOOL.  By  Evelyn 
Sharp.     12mo.     Illustrated,     ix  +  326  pages. 

Bab,  the  "  youngest  girl,"  was  only  eleven  and  the  pet  of  five 
brothers.  Her  ups  and  downs  in  a  strange  boarding  school  make 
an  interesting  story. 

SPARKS.  THE  MEN  WHO  MADE  THE  NATION:  AN  OUTLINE 
OF  UNITED  STATES  HISTORY  FROM  1776  TO  1861.  By 
Edwin  E.  Sparks.     12mo.     Illustrated,     viii  +415  pages. 

The  author  has  chosen  to  tell  our  history  by  selecting  the  one 
man  at  various  periods  of  our  affairs  who  was  master  of  the  situ- 
ation and  about  whom  events  naturally  grouped  themselves. 
The  characters  thus  selected  number  twelve,  as  "Samuel  Adams, 
the  man  of  the  town  meeting"  ;  "Robert  Morris,  the  financier  of 
the  Revolution";  "Hamilton,  the  advocate  of  stronger  govern- 
ment," etc.,  etc. 


THACHER.  THE  LISTENING  CHILD.  A  selection  from  the 
stories  of  English  verse,  made  for  the  youngest  readers  and 
hearers.     By  Lucy  W.  Thacher.     12mo.     xxx  +  408  pages. 

Under  this  title  are  gathered  two  hundred  and  fifty  selections. 
The  arrangement  is  most  intelligent,  as  shown  in  the  proportions 
assigned  to  different  authors  and  periods.  Much  prominence  is 
given  to  purely  imaginative  writers.  The  preliminary  essay,  "A 
Short  Talk  to  Children  about  Poetry, "  is  full  of  suggestion. 

WALLACE.  UNCLE  HENRY'S  LETTERS  TO  THE  FARM 
BOY.     By  Henry  Wallace.     16mo.     ix  +  180  pages. 

Eighteen  letters  on  habits,  education,  business,  recreation,  and 
kindred  subjects. 

WEED.  LIFE  HISTORIES  OF  AMERICAN  INSECTS.  By 
Clarence  Moores  Weed.     12mo.     Illustrated,     xii  4-  272  pages. 

In  these  pages  are  described  by  an  enthusiastic  student  of 
entomology  such  changes  as  may  often  be  seen  in  an  insect's 
form,  and  which  mark  the  progress  of  its  life.  He  shows  how  very 
wide  a  field  of  interesting  facts  is  within  reach  of  any  one  who  has 
the  patience  to  collect  these  little  creatures. 

WELLS.  THE  JINGLE  BOOK.  By  Carolyn  Wells.  12mo. 
Illustrated,     viii  +124  pages. 

A  collection  of  fifty  delightful  jingles  and  nonsense  verses.  The 
illustrations  by  Oliver  Herford  do  justice  to  the  text. 

WILSON.  DOMESTIC  SCIENCE  IN  GRAMMAR  GRADES.  A 
Reader.     By  Lucy  L.  W.  Wilson.     12mo.     ix  +  193  pages. 

Descriptions  of  homes  and  household  customs  of  all  ages  and 
countries,  studies  of  materials  and  industries,  glimpses  of  the 
homes  of  literature,  and  articles  on  various  household  subjects. 

WILSON.  HISTORY  READER  FOR  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS. 
By  Lucy  L.  W.  Wilson.  16mo.  Illustrated,  xvii  +  403 
pages. 

Stories  grouped  about  the  greatest  men  and  the  most  striking 
events  in  our  country's  history.  The  readings  run  by  months, 
beginning  with  September. 

WILSON.  PICTURE  STUDY  IN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS.  By 
Lucy  L.  W.  Wilson.     12mo.     Illustrated. 


10 

Ninety  half-tone  reproductions  from  celebrated  paintings  both 
old  and  modern,  accompanied  by  appropriate  readings  from  the 
poets.     All  schools  of  art  are  represented. 

WRIGHT.  HEART  OF  NATURE.  By  Mabel  Osgood  Wright. 
12mo.     Illustrated. 

This  volume  comprises  "Stories  of  Plants  and  Animals," 
"Stories  of  Earth  and  Sky,"  and  "Stories  of  Birds  and  Beasts," 
usually  published  in  three  volumes  and  known  as  "The  Heart  of 
Nature  Series."  It  is  a  delightful  combination  of  story  and 
nature  study,  the  author's  name  being  a  sufficient  warrant  for  its 
interest  and  fidelity  to  nature. 

WRIGHT.  FOUR-FOOTED  AMERICANS  AND  THEIR  KIN.  By 
Mabel  Osgood  Wright,  edited  by  Frank  Chapman.  12mo. 
Illustrated,    xv  +  432  pages. 

An  animal  book  in  story  form.  The  scene  shifts  from  farm  to 
woods,  and  back  to  an  old  room,  fitted  as  a  sort  of  winter  camp, 
where  vivid  stories  of  the  birds  and  beasts  which  cannot  be  seen 
at  home  are  told  by  the  campfire,  —  the  sailor  who  has  hunted  the 
sea,  the  woodman,  the  mining  engineer,  and  wandering  scientist, 
each  taking  his  turn.  A  useful  family  tree  of  North  American 
Mammals  is  added. 

WRIGHT.  DOGTOWN.'  By  Mabel  Osgood  Wright.  12mo. 
Illustrated,    xiii  +  405  pages. 

"Dogtown"  was  a  neighborhood  so  named  because  so  many 
people  loved  and  kept  dogs.  For  it  is  a  story  of  people  as  well  as 
of  dogs,  and  several  of  the  people  as  well  as  the  dogs  are  old  friends^ 
having  been  met  in  Mrs.  Wright's  other  books. 

YONGE.  LITTLE  LUCY'S  WONDERFUL  GLOBE.  By  Char- 
lotte M.  Yonge.     12mo.     Illustrated,    xi  +  140  pages. 

An  interesting  and  ingenious  introduction  to  geography.  In 
her  dreams  Lucy  visits  the  children  of  various  lands  and  thus 
learns  much  of  the  habits  and  customs  of  these  countries. 

YONGE.  UNKNOWN  TO  HISTORY.  By  Charlotte  M.  Yonge. 
12mo.     Illustrated,    xi  +  589  pages. 

A  story  of  the  captivity  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  told  in  the 
author's  best  vein. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 
on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 

30Jul'59RE| 
RjrC4D  LD 

JUL  '<JvJ  R** 

OBRARY  USE 

- 

DEC  2  2  1960 

tiSW^ws  T~v$ 

DEC  22  ®8fi 

i . 

.  - 

T/n  21  A-^Ow-d  '^q                                       General  Library 
L(Al272A4s?2T476B9                                   Univecrit^ofglifornl. 

